Рецепт My Post-Surgery Return to the Kitchen-- To Celebrate, a Digital Recipe Reader Giveaway!
There's a giveaway at the end of this post. I'll begin with an update on why I have not been very active on my food blog, since mid-June. I'll highlight my update in italics, so you can scroll past it, if you want to find out what a Digital Recipe Reader is-- and why you might want one.
It has been seven weeks since I received my new "Bionic Knee". On my post for Vanilla Salted Peanut Cookies, I shared a less-than-stellar review on how things went. This post, however, has a more positive spin and I am beginning to feel like my life is slowly getting back to normal.
Initially, I felt very discouraged (and sad) that my fantasies of spending six post-surgery weeks, at home, didn't quite pan out as I had imagined. I had visions of spending a couple of weeks with down time, impressing my home visit Physical Therapy with my ability to recover so quickly, and having the last four weeks being able to walk around (albeit slowly and carefully). I figured I'd have plenty of time to make new recipes, read books, meet friends for leisurely lunches and that in six weeks I'd be walking better than ever.
When I told my physical therapist what my goals were, and that I needed to return to my full-time job in six weeks, he raised his eyebrows. (This was not a good omen.) Together, we worked on my rehabilitation, three days at week-- at home. There was pain involved, but progress began to happen, and he was very patient with me.
What I did not expect was that I would spend six weeks of a very slow recovery. It took four weeks for me to learn how to get into my car, and to feel comfortable while driving. Standing and cooking, without pain, proved almost impossible for the first six weeks. Consequently, my wonderful husband did his best to prepare our meals and my camera, spatulas, pots and pan sat unused.
At the end of six weeks, I returned to work, and I can finally drive with minimal discomfort. My freedom has been restored! My spirits soared, being back at work, where I could interact with people and get away from feeling like a prisoner in my own home. I feel useful again, and I have been very busy. Oh, happy day!
I am now going to outpatient physical therapy, where they have an underwater treadmill-- and I do love the water! I am making slow, but steady progress, and am confident that my new knee and I will be very happy together-- but it could take a few more months. Best of all, I'm starting to do some simple cooking. I can't stand for more than 15 minutes, so whatever I make has to be simple and quick. My men help, if I need it, and do all the cleanup. Lucky me! I'm laughing again, and very thankful that the worst is behind me-- I can't wait to get back to creating new recipes so I can share them on my blog--oh, how I've missed my hobby!
END OF SURGERY STORY
When I started my food blog, in 2008, I discovered a website, "Key Ingredient". I created a free account, and figured out how to "Embed" each recipe card at the bottom of each of my blog posts. I found that it was super easy for me to save recipes, from other websites, by creating a recipe card and storing it on Key Ingredient. (though, Pinterest is now my favorite way to save recipes that I've spotted and want to save as my "to try" list.)
I loved my DEMY, though it needed a few improvements-- like being able to search by ingredient, or a partial recipe name. (I showed some of the cool features on this post for Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.)
In September 2012, the nice folks at Key Ingredient let me exchange the old DEMY for their New Digital Recipe Reader. There were many new improvements. For one, I no longer needed a USB cable to sync my Key Ingredient recipes from the website to the Recipe Reader--it's now wireless! I can search by ingredient, or partial recipe name. I can increase the font or picture size, too. I asked Key Ingredient if they'd agree to offer me a free Recipe Reader as a giveaway (which they did), and you can see a lot of their new features on that post, by clicking here.
I much prefer using my Recipe Reader because I can, safely, wipe the screen with a damp cloth. It's smaller than an iPad, and I could use it "Portrait" or "Landscape". I like the built-in timers, and all the extra features (like conversion charts and ingredient substitutes etc.)
Before I share how to enter this giveaway, I'd like to share my thoughts about recipe copyrights:
Key Ingredient recently added a feature that I appreciate-- that is, when someone copies a photo from another website, they must give the "source" URL (link). This is in response to many food bloggers who felt that Key Ingredient was another "scrape site". If you don't know what a scrape site is, it means that people copy recipes and photos-- and sometimes the entire food blog's content-- and do not list the source. This is a copyright infringement, and is considered "stolen work"! I was pleased to see that Key Ingredient is taking steps to protect food bloggers who do not appreciate having their work "stolen".
I know that when I publish any of my photos or recipes, that I am vulnerable to people taking my own work without asking me for permission. My general rule on this-- please ask, and even better-- please give a link back to me. My fellow food bloggers thank you for this.
I have actually found my photographs copied, and used as other people's recipes. I hated to do it, but I reported it to Google and the posts have been taken down. All we food bloggers ask is, please be courteous! I've read stories about lawsuits that have happened, and they're not pretty stories.
Anytime I publish a recipe that I did not develop, I always list the source name and link back to them.
You can buy a Recipe Reader on "Amazon" for a current sale price of $149.00 (regular price is $199.00) Now then, are you interested in winning a free Digital Recipe Reader?
I want to reiterate that I am not being paid by Key Ingredient to sponsor this giveaway. I simply want to share with you a kitchen tool that I use all the time. When my husband was doing his best to cook for me, he used my Recipe Reader to find my easy Super Sloppy Joe's recipe-- he followed the recipe, and he made them perfectly!
Okay, ready to enter now? Here's how:
Leave a comment, below, that you'd love to win a Recipe Reader. You can receive up to five extra entries by:
"Liking" my Facebook Fan Page and leaving a comment that you did (if you already are on my Fanpage, you can leave a comment that you do-- and thank you!
Tweeting this giveaway (copy me @foodiewife), and leave a comment that you've done so.
If you are on Facebook, announce this giveaway on your Facebook and be sure to link back to this post; leave a comment here that you've done so.
Comments left on my Facebook Fan Page are appreciated, but will not be counted as an entry-- you must comment on this post, only.
I apologize, but I can only ship within the continental United States.
I will, randomly, choose a winner when my contest closes-- next Sunday, August 11th at 8:00am PST (I will turn all comments off).
Giveaway has ended. I will announce the winner very shortly. Thanks for entering!
I will be back, blogging on a more regular basis, very soon. Thank you for your support, patience and encouragement. I've really missed not being able to cook and bake for my family. I think they have, too!
Hugs,