$5 Dinner Mom's Holiday Entertaining Guide

This is awesome! The $5 Dinner Mom is publishing a simple holiday entertaining guide to make the upcoming season as stress-free and fun as possible! In the same fashion as her cookbooks and blog, she addresses the proper budget, items that are necessary and some that aren't, making the most of coupons and grocery store finds, delicious recipes for left-overs, and (my favorite) "the perfect plan to have everything cooked using only one oven!" Included are 30 recipes, from sides to desserts, like this Cranberry and Celery Stuffing -- even for Stove-Toppers like myself, I can handle this recipe!

Cranberry and Celery Stuffing
A burst of sweet-tart and crunch make for a wonderful addition to the traditional stuffing mix.

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 small onion, chopped
1 14 oz. package herb seasoned stuffing mix
2 cups thinly sliced celery
1 cup dried cranberries
3 green onions, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish, or 9x9 inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Bring 2 cups of water and the butter and chopped onion to a boil, then toss in the stuffing mix until moistened.
Remove from the heat and cover. Let sit for 5 minutes.
Stir in the celery slices, dried cranberries and green onions.
Spread the stuffing mixture into the prepared baking dish. Cover with foil.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Then remove the foil and continue baking 10 to 15
minutes, or until top is golden brown.
Serve Herb and Celery Stuffing.
Makes 6 to 8 side dish servings.

The book goes on sale Monday, Oct. 31 at 9AM (Eastern), and you can get it for 50% off at $1.99 with code THANKS (valid until Thanksgiving)! It's available in Kindle, Nook and iPad format.

The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook Review and Giveaway

Erin Chase, The $5 Dinner Mom, has created over 200 new breakfast, lunch, and snack ideas to eat at home or to pack for school. It's obvious, through her writings, that she desires the best nutrition for her family while keeping a good eye on the budget! She's authored The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook and blogs at $5 Dinners; I personally have gotten great tips from Erin as well as other readers on the blog.

Honestly, I'm not really a cookbook kind of girl -- I either have recipes given to me, or I look them up online because my cookbooks sit on the shelf, permanently! I normally get discouraged looking through lots of lists and then realizing that I don't know what half of the ingredients are, suspecting that most would be pricey to purchase. When I received The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook today, I was so excited to browse through the book -- her prologues were quite thought-provoking, as she gave tips about saving time and money preparing breakfast or lunch, as well as other tidbits (like batch cooking and freezing) that I've tried to intellectually process but haven't successfully integrated in my life. Interestingly, I enjoyed looking at the recipes; I recognized all the ingredients, and her list at the end showed me that the entire meal would be less than $5, often averaging between $2-3.

I knew Erin had this new cookbook out (Jan. 4, 2011), and part of me wondered why she created one just for breakfast and lunch. But she has me sold! I really appreciate the unique ideas she has for breakfast besides my grand ideas of cereal, oatmeal, or omelets -- even our picky eater perked up when I mentioned homemade whole wheat apple waffles. And lunch recipes can easily work for dinner too.

She really has something for everyone. We're on our Daniel Fast right now, which is a pretty strict vegan diet, but I found several recipes we can use, like White Bean Chili as well as Avocado, Corn, and Black Bean Salsa. And the recipes are so versatile that they can easily translate to dinner ideas too.

Buy It!
You can purchase The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare on Amazon for $14.99, but it's on sale for $8.82 -- keep in mind Amazon prices may change at any time.

Win It!
This is open to U.S. To enter, you must be a Google Friend Connect Follower (and you don't have to be a blogger to sign up) and tell me, on average, how much does your lunch cost! This is required and must be done before the extra entries count! PLEASE leave your name and email address with your entry.

Extra Entries!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do along with you email address.

1- For ONE extra entry, Like Discovering the Me in Mommy on Facebook.

2- For ONE extra entry, Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway.

3 - For ONE extra entry, Like $5 Dinners on Facebook and leave some comment love!

4-For ONE extra entry, Subscribe to my blog via email.

Contest ends at 10pm EST on Sunday, February 13, 2011 when I will draw a winner at random. PLEASE leave your email address in your entry. I will notify the winner, and s/he will have 36 hours to respond!

****This is not a paid post. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others. Thank you to Erin and Sarah for the review and giveaway products!****