She Cooks (& an announcement and giveaway!)
Published July 1, 2010Hi friends! Boy have I got a treat for you.
Today you’ll meet one of my “favoritist” people (as one of my boys used to say) in the world, LeAnn Rice, who has launched a new website you are gonna LOVE! And yes, there is a giveaway involved 
But first, a fun little announcement you may be interested in.
Beginning this Saturday, I will be a guest on all four weekends in July on Focus on the Family Weekend.They are spots I recorded last August when I flew to Colorado Springs to the headquarters of Focus and most are practical tips from my book The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized. Mark your calendar and join us! If you don’t know when the show airs in your neck of the woods, you can find it online and listen by clicking here.
And FYI….I will be missing-in-action from all things cyber–including blog, Facebook, & Twitter— until Tuesday morning July 6th in order to hang with my family. See you then!
Okay…now for our guest.
LeAnn Rice is an amazing woman. A single mom who became a widow over a decade ago, she is an inspiration to many and an example of how God can use us despite our sorrows and the blows life tries to throw at us. She is the Executive Director of Proverbs 31 Ministries, where she says “I get to spend my days surrounded by the most Godly women I have ever known. Truly… I am blessed to have each and every one of them in my life.” And we say back…”We call her Queen”. Not just because she is our director, but she is royally wonderful and gracious. She resides near Charlotte, NC with her son Nick, age 16.
LeAnn has just launched a fun and helpful site for women called She Cooks. I’ve asked her to share a bit about it and then…..the giveaway!
Leann, as a busy single mom and mother of a teen-aged boy, what is life like at your house this summer? Well… it’s messy. And I mean that literally! Nick is 16 years old so basically he just eats and smells. With the launching of She Cooks, and our annual She Speaks conference around the corner, I am working crazy hours. Nick spends the days playing Xbox (while eating, of course). I make him breakfast before I leave for the office and I bring dinner home around 8:00 or 9:00pm. It’s a crazy schedule. But we try to take time after church on Sundays to see a movie and grab a bite to eat. Notice that there is no mention of doing dishes or dusting. Hence “messy.”
Tell us a bit about how God prompted you to begin She Cooks. I work with the most amazing group of women (like YOU for instance) who share the Gospel of Jesus at speaking events. Time and time again I hear one of you say that people came to Jesus at one of your events. I never get to experience that. I don’t have the gift of speaking or writing and it kind of bothered me that I wasn’t sharing the Gospel in such a life-changing way. As I was feeling sorry for myself and struggling with feelings of envy, God woke me up at 3:00 in the morning a few months ago with the idea for She Cooks. I very clearly heard Him say that, while He had not given me the gift of speaking or writing, He had given me the gift of hospitality and that I could most definitely use it to extend His love and His grace with others. I drove to work the next morning and immediately checked to see if the domain “She Cooks” was available. It was. And that was it.
What is the greatest challenge when it comes to hospitality and how can women overcome it? I think overcoming our tendency to compare ourselves to others is the greatest challenge. Girl… you know that most of us will walk into someone else’s home and survey the area! “Look at Sally’s new furniture.” “I could never set a table as gorgeous as Aunt Mary.” You know… I do it all the time. The thing is, all of us do things differently. It’s not so much the result of your attempts to set a fancy table as it is about the love you put into it. It costs absolutely nothing to make a person feel welcome and cared for.
What do you hope your readers experience as they follow along with your blog? I hope they will feel welcome at my table. I hope they will be inspired to invite others to sit around their table to share good food and laughter. I hope they will discover recipes that will become new family favorites, and ideas that will make their next meal an event. I hope they will be encouraged, despite my blunders and imperfections, to attempt the extraordinary to make someone else feel special. Most of all, I hope and pray that those who come simply for recipes and menu ideas, will find the hope of Jesus Christ through the stories I share of life around my kitchen table.
Now for the giveaway. I’d planned on giving you some summer recipes today, but when you hop over to She Cooks, you’ll see LeAnn has already done this. So instead, I am giving away the following:
*A copy of the “Cook Out” summer issue of the Food Network Magazine
*A packet of Raspberry Zinger herb tea. Great iced!
*Some patriotic Sour Stars to give to the kids or grand-kids, if you have them, to keep them out of the kitchen! Otherwise, give them to a neighborhood child
*A $5.00 Walmart card, to buy yourself some new measuring cups or other kitchen gadget for cooking. (Not pictured. I still have to buy it!)
*Watermelon not included. Kinda hard to mail!
Okay…hop on and leave a comment telling us what you love about cooking. Or what you hate about cooking. Or what you plan to do over the Fourth of July holiday. Or, if none of the above applies to you, simply say “I’m in!” Winner will be announced Tuesday morning when I return.
Happy 4th! (to those of you from the U.S) Happy summer to the rest!
61 Responses to She Cooks (& an announcement and giveaway!)
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I love making things my family enjoys- baking my daughter’s birthday cakes and watching her enjoy them in particular!
Thanks so much! I was re-reading our MOPS evaluations this morning to plan next year… and cooking, menu planning is a what they are looking for! This is a great resource!
I love it when no matter what I make, my husband always tells me thanks for it, be it a grilled cheese sandwich or a full-blown thanksgiving dinner. It is nice to cook for someone who is appreciative.
I don’t know what it is specifically that I love about cooking. But I do. I even started my own business last year making frozen meals from a menu. I did it for a year before I gave it up. It didn’t make enough money and the 72 hours a week were killing me. But I loved every minute of it and I really felt that God had called me to do it. Now I’m looking for another way to use my gift to serve Him. When I’m in the kitchen I have such peace. And I love cooking for other people. It just makes me happier than anything else. Unfortunately, because of my love of cooking, I’m also an active member of Weight Loss Wednesday!! Seems a love of cooking goes hand in hand with a love for eating!! I used to joke with people and say “Never trust a skinny cook”. Gave me an excuse to be overweight!
To be totally honest – I hate cooking! I try my best and am constantly looking for easy good for you meals. I need all the help I can get. I have tried Unsuccesfully many many times to do menu planning and just cant get the hang of it! I am hopelss when it comes to that! Thanks for You!
I love the memories created by cooking with and for my family. As I prepare to send our first son to college, it’s funny to reminisce about what he remembers about growing up…it very often revolves around food or a food event!…the birthday cake that didn’t really work out (hey, he’s the one that asked for a key lime ice cream cake…), the cakes that did work out (celebrating his most favorite airplane) and the foods we all ate after rough orthodontic visits (chicken noodle soup, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.).
What I hate about cooking is when I’m really in the mood to cook I usually don’t have all the ingredients.
I love to Cook! What I enjoy most about cooking is making others happy. I also love to teach our Children, Sadie is 11 and Kyle is 9 new things to make. Being is the Kitchen is fun, we have a BLAST! Kyle is cute because he will come up with his own recipes. The Holler Family loves to cook but what we love even more is eating the food. Have a blessed day. In His Glory, Shawnia and Family.
I love to cook! My husband is a chef so lots of our family time is spent in the kitchen!
I love cooking and I love sharing it with anyone who will eat it
My husband and I have been parenting a teenager (not our birth child) for 3 yrs. I have loved, loving on him through providing meals that were absent from his past. One time after a meal that he particularly enjoyed he said, “I guess it’s time to stop eating when your fingers shrivel!” We have laughed often about that one. I also love mentoring other young women in their cooking journey. Many of their mothers just didn’t teach them. Thanks Mom for teaching me!
Food and I have a famous relationship, whether I cook my special potato salad (I like my recipe best!) or whether I am enjoying the rare treat of another cook, face it…. I just love to eat!!
God Bless each person here and may God give the gift to the person whom it will bless the most! Amen
I love to cook but do not have a lot of time to try new stuff. I LOVE it when my family requests something I’ve made before… makes me feel like I’ve had a “cooking victory.” Lol:)
I love to spend a whole day cooking – it’s really relaxing. I like seeing the finished product. And I am an empty-nester so it fills my day and I enjoy taking the cooked meals to my son and daughter-in-law and daughter and son-in-law.
I love baking and holiday (and regular days) spent with kids and grands. What a blessing!
I love making special meals for each one of my family members on their birthday. What every they would like to have. From the main dish to the dessert to what they like to drink. I get such joy of fullfilling their special wishes.
I love all thing about cooking, trying new recipes and making old ones better,making meals or goodies for my family and friends…all things that is EXCEPT CLEANING UP !!! I am such a messy cook (really I try to be cleaner!) and it always seems to take forever to get my kitchen back “to normal”…but I love everything else enough not to quit:) Soo looking forward to checking out She Cooks!
I’m in! Hopefully, my nephew will arrive this weekend – he is due Friday!!
I have to say that I love cooking the most when I don’t have anything planned – so I have to wing it with whatever I have in the pantry, and then the very BEST part… My husband says something sweet like, ” how are you going to serve this mexican dish and your bruchetta in the same restaurant…?” I love that he enjoys my creativity with food ~ He wants to give me a “CHOPPED” challenge, where he chooses the ingredients… I can’t wait – it should prove to be a fun evening
) ~*~ I’M IN!!! ~*~
i love cooking with my mom. Going over to her house and preparing things together for our big family is always a blast and for some reason the food ALWAYS taste better at mama’s house. Even my kids ask me when i’m gonna learn to cook like grandma does. LOL. I’m trying just haven’t quite learned the expertise of it yet. But nothing beats being with family when cooking.
I LOVE eating and I enjoy cooking, especially baking. I love the smells and the memories and the togetherness being in the kitchen brings. I have recently begun a plant based diet and my cooking, especially baking has tapered off a lot, and believe it or not…I really miss it!
I don’t mind cooking it’s the planning and picking the meals that I struggle with. I feel like I do the same stuff over and over and . . .
Love the She Cooks site. Signed up for it the first day it launched!
i actually enjoy cooking (exept when my kids complain like i’m making them eat dirt). I really dislike the planning and grocery shopping. And i have no idea what we are doing on the 4th
I like to cook but enjoy a break every now and again. I am a mother of 5 and would enjoy all the help i can get.
I love cooking holiday meals for my family. Every Christmas morning we cook breakfast for our little family of 10.
I love cooking for family and friends. Someone once told me that you don’t really know someone until you share a meal with them. I’ve taken that to heart and try to always include something when meeting with someone for business or pleasure like cookies, cake, or a whole meal.
I love it when my family gets excited over a meal…then sitting down around the table together. I do hate to do the dishes…but whoever cooks at our house doesn’t have to do the dishes….needless to say, I’m the main cook.
I don’t particularly like to cook, but am always looking for something to make it easier. Love the new She Cooks website and all the Proverbs31 blogs.
I’ll be cooking up some new memorys using my nikon this weekend and grilling my lemon basil chicken, schrimp & vege skewers, tater salad & sweet tea! Have a very blessed INDEPENDENCE DAY!
I have always enjoyed making special things for my family. Holidays are always so much fun to enjoy with family and enjoy special meals together.
I have always loved cooking ever since I was a little girl. I am glad that the Lord gave me this gift, because I have been able to serve other people with it.
I love to cook but it is hard to plan meals for everyday. Looking forward to the new site and getting/sharing ideas.
LOL—I was looking at that watermelon thinking “how in the world is she gonna pull that off?” And then you mentioned the Wal-Mart gift card and I thought “you can buy the watermelon with the gift card”.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE SheCooks. I was the winner of her first posting, how excited am I?????
I love to bake and I am slowly getting into the cooking world. However, since I am usually cooking just for one it’s not as much fun. I can bake and then give it all away.
Happy Fourth!!
Jessica B.
I love to cook because I can take basic, fresh ingredients and make fun, healthy meals out of them for my family. It makes me happy to see them enjoy what I prepare.
im a working momma and i love quick tasty meals that I can make for my family…makes me feel happy to do something for them!
I’m a fair cook but a pretty good baker. I love baking my family’s favorites just for them to enjoy. My daughter has taken an interest in cooking. We enjoy the time together and it thrills me to see the exitement on her face when she’s created something she wants us to try. She would love to have more recipes to pour over!!
I love to cook! (and eat) I really enjoy it now that I have two little helpers on the kitchen.
Love to cook! Can’t wait to check out “She Cooks”!
I love, love cooking! Espicallly for my family and friends. My favorite part is preparing something a little different. Or taking a recipe and doing my own thing to it. For the fourth of July Sunday morning can’t miss church, then enjoy fireworks. Would love to win giveaway..
I’m in! I love to eat, therefore, I have to cook. But I enjoy mostly cooking with my kids. We really do have a great time. And, they tend to actually eat what we all make together rather than when I cook alone.
Love to cook with my kids and love to incorporate it into our schooling. Can’t wait to check out her blog!
I love that I can participate in cooking as a hobby with a clear conscience! In my ministry/homeschooling life, time and space are short. I don’t have the ability to carve out space for hobbies. The kitchen, however, is already carved out for me! Cooking and baking are a wonderful way I can direct my creativity, and cooking provides a tangible way for me to express to someone thanks, sympathy, joy, friendship, or a myriad of other things.
I don’t mind cooking but I dislike having to come up with what’s for supper. I usually can come up with two or three dishes a week but it seems like we eat the same things over and over.
I really love trying out new, healthy recipes for my family. I used to be intimidated with cooking…..yes, truly intimidated, but now I have gained confidence and find it fun. I’m no chef, but I put love and effort into my dishes and that’s the most important part.
We are hosting our annual Fireworks party. Our yard is the perfect place to watch the local fireworks without all the hassle of the parking and traffic! Our guests are almost all home before the park even begins emptying!
I like cooking when my husband likes it, but feel like it was a waste of time when he complains about it. No particular plans to celebrate the 4th.
I love baking! Especially my mother’s sugar cookie recipe for my grandchildren. It’s really fun when they are here to bake with me.
I LOVE the challenge of creating meals from on hand ingredients… I DON’T love the challenge of cleaning up afterwards!!
Oh how I wish I had the gift of cooking and hospitality. But, I just don’t. I think it definitely can be developed. I just feel so overwhelmed on how to get started. I’m not good at the entertaining thing, sadly. Maybe this is a push to get out of my comfort zone…So, I am looking forward to LeAnn’s new site. I’m so grateful to my friends that have such great ideas and have this wonderful gift.
Christmas cookies are my favorite thing to make!! The only bad thing, is I get flour all over the floor! But I love it.
Happy 4th of July cookouts to you all!
I love cooking. I especially enjoy trying to copy dishes from my favorite restaurants.
Thanks for the chance to win a great gift. We are having about 45 on Sunday evening to celebrate our country. I’d better get busy!
What I love about cooking: knowing that I have prepared what my family needs to survive; eating; learning and experimenting with the science behind the cooking; trying new things. What I hate about cooking: the things I like to make take a long time, and I don’t have much time anymore; knowing that with the different likes/dislikes in the family, no matter what I make someone in the family won’t eat it/like it; trying to creatively come up with healthy meals that are very inexpensive – I get bored making the same things repeatedly. Plans for the 4th of July: I am working a great deal of the holiday weekend, but we are taking out a few hours on Sunday to visit with friends for a potluck. I am bringing baked beans and salsa corn pasta (basically pasta salad with a Mexican twist).
I have soooo enjoyed reading all of your comments! I love hearing about other peoples traditions, favorite meals, even kitchen disasters. This has been like gathering around a table and sharing stories. Love that!
Thanks for doing this Karen and thanks for mentioning my new site. Oh… and truly, I am touched by your sweet introduction of me. Clearly you need to spend just a little more time with me. HAH!
Happy Fourth of July!
Love You!
LeAnn
I am making a fruit pizza to look like a flag for our 4th of July picnic…blueberries for the stars and strawberries for the stripes!!
I love to cook and am a 4H foods project leader. I am having the project meeting today with 4 girls – ages 10 & 11. So far we have made: yougart popcicles, Lasagna, patriotic parfaits (to celebrate the 4th) and homemade pretzels! It’s been a blast, even though the kitchen floor has been floured!!
I love to cook for my husband and my family. I am searching out healthy recipes all the time. I am reading the Daniel Fast book by Susan Gregory right now. It is full of great healthy recipes. The book explains what fasting is all about. It is about feeding your soul, strengthening your spirit and renewing your body. Americans as a whole eat way too much unhealthy food. I am just trying to eat healthier and lose some weight. Thank you for this website!
i’ll make a fruit salad to take to our neighbors’ 4th of july picnic
I love to cook for friends and family. It is so much more fun than just cooking for myself.
What a great giveaway and Happy 4th to you! I love cooking for others. When I prepare a meal I pray for those that will be consuming it. I have found making meals for those who are ill and had a baby etc. to be a huge blessing to them and to me.
This past year I have enjoyed cooking for the hungry college students my daughter has brought home. Seriously I think I could have served bread and water and they would have been thrilled because it was not cafeteria food. But even more than the home cooking the part they seemed to like best was just sitting around a family table and talking and laughing together,
My favorite thing about cooking is watching people enjoying it when I’m done!