'Manda Blogs About . . .

Sunday

Blog and RSS Directories

I made this giant list/directory of directories for blogs. Everyone with a blog should submit it to as many directories as possible. I have almost finished the list myself and my backlinks have greatly increased and my page rank went up too, but nobody really knows how that works so I don't know if that matters or not.

If you don't have an RSS feed for your blog, try Feedburner.com and set one up then submit your blog to all of these RSS search engine directories.

RSS Search engine Submissions

http://www.bloglines.com/

http://www.solarwarp.net/submitrss.php

http://www.leighrss.com/rss-add.html

http://www.blogdirectory001.com/?section=signup

http://www.5z5.com/Suggest-A-Feed/

http://www.feedplex.com/add-url.php

http://www.2rss.com/index.php

Blog Directories to Submit Your Blog To

http://topblogarea.com/

http://www.blogarama.com/

http://www.bizymoms.com/blog-network/index.php - Click on blogger network at the top, then add your blog in the tabs on the next page. You need to go to your control panel and add your rss feed.

http://thehlmn.com/ fashion and beauty site, email your link, maybe banner too

http://www.dmoz.org/ This is a huge directory that you definetly want your blog in. Make sure it's in the right category or you will be rejected.

http://www.bloggerblackbook.com/bloggers/

http://www.topbabyblogs.com/cgi-bin/topblogs/accounts.cgi - just like top mom blogs

http://www.topmommyblogs.com/blogs/accounts.php

http://herblogdirectory.com/submit.php two levels to upgrade to for $5 a year or $10 for a month

http://bust.com/Girl-Wide-Web/ This is not what it sounds like from that title. I promise, no porn, just a really badly though out name. Click on the tab that says girl wide web then click submit blog in left sidebar

http://alltop.com/submission/ Another one of the top sites you want your blog in.

http://www.hotvsnot.com/addurl/info/?c= super quick and easy

http://www.bloglines.com/

The Mommy Bunch - http://listing.thesocalledme.net/ - for mom bloggers

http://www.blogtopsites.com/

http://us.loadedweb.com/ There's also a free twitter directory you can submit to.

http://mompack.com/mom2mom/

http://www.mommyblogs.com/ - register and you can add your blog to your info.

http://themomblogs.com/blogs/profile.php

http://www.thefindbuzz.com/add_blog - blog directory for shopping/review sites

http://www.wahmsthatblog.com/get-listed.php for WAHM moms but they will accept blogs from all mom's, you can list your blog in three categories for free

http://csahm.com/blogs-by-moms/ blog directory for christian stay-at-home moms

http://www.sexyblogtop.com/ a site to submit adult blogs

http://geekyspeaky.com/links/

http://www.directorycritic.com/add-enterdetails.html - this is for submitting directories, so if you have one on your site go ahead and submit

http://indexking.net/submit.php free listing or $4 for a featured one year listing

http://submitblog.buzzerhut.com/

http://gowebguide.com/add.php upgrade to a paid subscription to list deep links, $9 sponsored for a year, $5 premium for a year

http://www.boingboing.net/suggest.html suggest a site for free

http://www.bloghop.com/account/index.htm

http://www.weblogalot.com/Ping / super quick and easy, just use your rss to ping them

http://honeylion.com/directory/addlink.php

http://www.a1weblinks.net/submit.php upgrade to no reciprocal for $7.95 or featured for $12.95

Pay to Submit Blog Directories

http://www.blogsbywomen.org/ $5.00 for lifetime listing or featured listing for $30 for 3 months and $55 for 6 months

http://www.delightfulblogs.com/submit.php $15 one time payment or $45 for 4 months featured with four other blogs at the top of your category and on the Delightfulblogs homepage

http://www.bloggingfusion.com/submit.php $1.99 regular link, $12.99 w/ 3 extra link submissions, $39.99 yearly with 5 extra link submissions

http://www.bloggeries.com/submit.php $39.99 one time or $54.99 annually for featured link

http://www.avivadirectory.com/submit.php $49.95 for one year or $149.95 for a permanent listing

Top 100 List to Submit To- These are list that people started that you can submit your blog too and then as people click the link on your site it counts as a and vote for yout site you'll move higher up on the list.

http://www.gotop100.com/directory/weblogs-and-xanga.html - has around 20 list to submit too in this category

http://bizwomenbloggers.gotop100.com/

http://thedomesticdiva.gotop100.com/

http://msbizbloggers.gotop100.com/index.php

Websites with Directories to Submit To

http://www.zimbio.com/ - Online magazine, submit is in the left sidebar under "Citizen Journalism" join Wikizines to submit your blog post to or just use what they suggest, great site, ping your blog to import post, they advertise you blog post for you in the zines

http://hipmamasplaceblogs.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-submit-your-blog.html - you have to email your info.

http://momfuse.com/business-directory/ you can pay to upgrade to a premium listing or add a button to the site for $15 a year

http://www.today.com/submit-blog

Blogging Communities

http://www.blogcatalog.com/widgets

Blogged - http://www.blogged.com/directory blogging community, here is my profile if you want to follow me and I'll follow you back

http://www.blogher.com/

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/submit_blog.html also has paid listings starting at $8 or $60 a month by sponsoring a category on their site

http://www.bloggapedia.com/ free listing or featured listing for $49.99

http://fuelmyblog.com/ - search for MandaBlogsAbout and we can follow eachother

http://www.theblogfrog.com/Users/Home.aspx search for manda if you want to be friends

http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/ sites not working so well, takes a while, have to claim blog with code

Search Engines

Bing
http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx

Google Blog Search
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping

Yahoo Directory

http://dir.yahoo.com/ - submit site is in small print on the top of tthe right side of the page

Saturday

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day Review and Giveaway

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients

by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François

I received a copy of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes for review. It's a great book that features 100 different recipes that are all gluten-free. The recipes are very easy to follow and include techniques that are easily explained so you'll have no problems following them. Before I read this book I had no idea that it could be so easy to make myself. The recipes would make it easy to make delicious artisan breads to use as gifts too. Below I have included a easy to follow recipe to give you an idea of what to expect from the book.

Pumpkin Pie Brioche

"In the autumn I bake pies using freshly roasted sugar pumpkins. My kids love the flavors and I love that pumpkin is full of vitamins. It struck me that the same amazing flavors could be used in a sweet and spiced brioche. The pumpkin makes wonderfully moist dough and the bread is so fragrant and tender. It is great with butter and cinnamon-sugar or cream cheese icing."--Zoë

Makes enough dough for at least two 2-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved. Use any leftover dough to make muffins, crescent rolls, or pinwheels.

3 cups white whole wheat flour
4½ cups unbleached all- purpose flour
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets
1 tablespoon kosher salt (increase or decrease to taste)
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1¼ cups lukewarm water
4 large eggs
½ cup honey
¾ cup neutral-flavored oil, or unsalted butter, melted, or zero trans fat, zero hydrogenated oil margarine, melted
One large pie (or "sugar") pumpkin to yield 1¾ cups pumpkin puree, or use one 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on the top crust
Raw sugar for sprinkling on top

1. If making your own fresh pumpkin puree: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Split the pumpkin in half, starting at the stem, and place it cut side down on a lightly greased cookie sheet or one lined with a silicone mat. Bake for about 45 minutes. The pumpkin should be very soft all the way through when poked with a knife. Cool slightly before scooping out the seeds.

2. Scoop out the roasted flesh of the pumpkin and puree it in the food processor. Set aside 1¾ cups for the dough and use any leftover in your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

3. Mixing and storing the dough: Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, vital wheat gluten, and spices in a 5- quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

4. Combine the liquid ingredients with the pumpkin puree and mix them with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you're not using a machine.

5. The dough will be loose, but it will firm up when chilled. Don't try to use it without chilling for at least 2 hours. You may notice lumps in the dough, but they will disappear in your finished products.

6. Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

7. Refrigerate the dough in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days. Beyond that, the dough stores well in the freezer for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. Freeze it in 2-pound portions. When using frozen dough, thaw it in the refrigerator for 24 hours before use, then allow the usual rest/rise times.

8. On baking day, grease a brioche pan or an 8½× 4½-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound (cantaloupe-size) piece of dough. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball. Place the ball in the prepared pan and allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 1 hour 45 minutes.

9. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350°F, with a rack placed in the center of the oven. If you're not using a stone in the oven, a 5-minute preheat is adequate.

10. Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the loaf's top with egg wash, and then sprinkle with raw sugar.

11. Bake near the center of the oven for approximately 45 to 50 minutes. Brioche will not form a hard, crackling crust. The loaf is done when it is medium brown and firm. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.

12. Remove the brioche from the pan (see page 50) and allow it to cool on a rack before slicing or eating.

The above is an excerpt from the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Author Bios

Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., coauthor of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients, is a physician with twenty years of experience in health care as a practitioner, consultant, and faculty member at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His interest in baking and preventive health sparked a quest to adapt the techniques of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for healthier ingredients.

Zoë François, coauthor of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients, is passionate about food that is real, healthy, and always delicious. She is a pastry chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America. In addition to teaching baking and pastry courses nationally, she consults to the food industry and is the creator of the recipe blog www.zoebakes.com. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two sons.

The authors answer bread questions at their Web site: http://www.healthy%20breadinfive.com/

I have one copy of this book to giveaway. Leave me a comment below telling me why you want this book. For additional entries you can complete one or all of the options below. This giveaway is for the US only and ends on Jan.14.

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Contest Disclaimer

Gortons Potatoe Crunch Review and Giveaway

I recently tried the Gorton's Potatoe Crunch Fish Fillets. I received a coupon to get it for free in exchange for this review. The fish was delicious and Grant and Chase both loved them too. I don't buy fish very often and I havn't eaten fish sticks in forever but these fillets were really good. The potatoe add to the crust made them super crunchy and added a great new flavor to ordinary fish fillets. I ate mine plain and Chase decided to make a sandwich with his. Grant had some with home made tartar sauce and loved them. I'll probably be buying them again because they were a hit. It was also a great way to get Mr. Chase face to eat fish. I cooked them in the oven as directed instead of cooking them in oil or frying them. Even if you don't like fish sticks or fish from a box you should try the potatoe crunch variety because they taste great.

I have five Gortons gift packs to giveaway. Each package includes a Gortons calendar with $10 worth of coupons and a handheld Suduko game. This giveaway is open to the US only and ends on Jan.20. To enter leave me a comment telling me your favorite seafood. This is your first, mandatory entry. For more chances to win you can do any or all of the options below. Be sure to leave a comment for each of the options or your entry will not count. If you get five bonus entries you need to leave five comments so that I will know.

For additional entries choose from the following:

follow me on Google Friend Connect (bottom of the page)
subscribe by email (right sidebar)
follow on Networked Blogs (bottom of page)
add a link back to me in your blog roll (5 bonus entries)
grab my button, leave me a link in your comment (5bonus entries)
follow me on Twitter, leave your Twitter id in your comment (right sidebar)
add me on Face Book, leave your name in a comment (right sidebar)
write about this giveaway on your own site with a link back to me, leave link in your comment (ten bonus entries)
Stumble this post (right sidebar)
add to Delicious (right sidebar)
retweet this post, leave me a link to it
Digg this post, leave Digg name in comment
Share this post on Facebook
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Contest Disclaimer

Glade Sense and Spray Review

I recently recieved a Glade Sense and Spray for review. I was given the unit plus two refills in exchange for my review. It gives you the freshness you want but only when you need it. If there is no one in the room, why waste your air freshener? It was the first air freshener with a motion sensor. The innovative smart unit automatically detects motion and releases a concentrated burst of fresh fragrance. I received Hawaiian Breeze and Clean Linen. They both smelled great but the Hawaiian Breeze was my favorite. It reminded me ot the beach with the sweet coconut smell. I started with the unit in my kitchen using the Clean Linen scent. It worked very well but there is a lot of traffic in my kitchen and I felt like it was spraying too often. The unit goes into a lock-out mode for 30 minutes after it sprays but it seemed like we were always walking by it. You can customize your fragrance level at any time by pushing the Boost Button for an extra burst, even if your unit is in lock-out mode. This was never neccesary since it sprays every thirty minutes. Refills last for up to 30 days but I switched to the Hawaiian Breeze because I wanted to try them both out. I decided to move the unit to the bathroom. It was the perfect spot. Every time one of us walked into the bathroom it would spray out a big burst of Hawaii and scent the whole room. I placed it on top of a shelf that faced the bathroom door and it even worked every time I walked into the bathroom. I'm only 4'11 so it was way above my head but it still detected me every time. We liked it so much that we went out and bought another one for our guest bathroom. There are six scents available in the refills but I stuck with the Hawaiian Breeze, it is definetly my favorite. The Glade Sense and Spray works great so you should try using one in your bathroom too.

Wednesday

Super Healthy Giveaways for the New Year

It's that time of year when everyone is making their resolutions for the new year. Getting healthy is usually on everyones mind. Exercise, eat healthy, remember my vitamins - those are just a few of mine. If you want to get healthy or stay healthy for the new year too I have a great collection of reviews and lots of giveaways I'd like to share with you.

First, I'll start with Metamucil since fiber is very important for our dietary health. I was given a bottle in exchange for this review. I was taking another fiber supplement but I have switched to the Metamucil now that I've had a chance to try it. Did you know that certain types of fiber can actually give you MORE benefits than others? Metamucil contains psyllium fiber which helps to reduce the risk of heart disease because it helps lower cholesteral. Most other fiber supplements can't do that because they don't contain psyllium.

All you have to do is dissolve the recomended dosage in a glass of water and you're done. It has a very smooth texture so it dissolves easily without leaving big clumps of powder. The Metamucil I tried tasted like oranges. It wasn't orange juice (obviously) but it did taste like oranges and I had no problem with the flavor so I was able to drink the whole glass without making crazy faces like I do with other supplements and medicine. You can take Metamucil for occasional constapation and to stay regular.

I am giving away one bottle of the same flavor Metamucil that I tried to one person. To enter, just CLICK HERE to go to my Metamucil contest entry page.

Next, you have to keep your skin healthy too, so why not try Vaseline Sheer Infusion lotion with Stratys-3? It's the only body lotion to infuse and suspend moisture at all layers of your skin. I was given the chance to try out all try varieties in the Sheer Infusion line. I really liked the way all three of them smelled and they also made my skin very soft. You can try Mineral Renewal, Botanical Blend or Vitamin Burst. I've been using the Vitamin Burst the most lately and I can see a huge difference in my arms and legs. You can learn more about Sheer Infusion by visiting http://www.vaselinesheerinfusion.com/ .

I'm giving away a set of all three types of Vaseline Sheer Fusion to one winner. To enter, CLICK HERE to go to the Vaseline Sheer Fusion giveaway entry page.

Now, if you do happen to end up sick and you get a cold sore you can use Cold Sores Begone to take care of it. Cold Sores Begone is made of all natural ingredients, including lemon grass. It is so safe that you can use it on a toddler although, it's strong enough for adults to use it. You should begin using it as soon as you feel the cold sore coming on. ColdSore Begone actually makes the cold sore go away faster and it heals the blister on your list. It is one of the best sellers for cold sores in the natural health market.

I also recieved a sample of Cold Sores Begone along with the Cold Sores Begone. It too is all natural and safe for toddlers but still strong enough to work for adults. Mr. Chase Face and Grant both ended up with canker sores so I (once again) used them as my little Giuenie Pigs to try it out for me. They had no problems with the flavor. Grants was gone within two days and Chase took three days! That's it, it was completely gone and they were both very happy with the Canker Sores begone. I didn't mind letting Chase use it since it was all natural and made with healing, anti-viral herbs. We will definetly be buying another bottle when this one runs out.

Would you like to try both all natural items too? Just go to the Cold Sore Begone/Canker Sore Begone giveaway entry page by CLICKING HERE. One winner will be randomly choosen to win a bottle of each.

What are you going to do if you catch a cold? You want to get rid of it fast - right? I was given two boxes of Zicam, one for colds and one for colds with a sore throat. Zicam is what you want to take because it works very fast. Grant came home one day not feeling very well. He was complaining that he was getting a cold so I gave him the Zicam Cold Remedy They are called Zavors and have a crunchy shell with a chewy, soft inside. After two days he was feeling great and back to normal. The flavor wasn't bad and you don't have swallow any pills or nasty cough syrup. They are just little lozenges, it's like a cough drop that actually works to make you feel better and get rid of the cold you have. You should take it as soon as you start to feel like you're getting sick. About a week later I thought that I was getting a cold and I had a sore throat. I started taking the Zicam Cold Remedy Plus which has the extra ingredients for a sore throat.These are a hard lozenge with a soothing liquid center. I was feeling totally better in about four days. We tried the cherry flavor for both Zicam products and the flavor was not nasty, or mediciney at all.

Do you want to try these also? If so, CLICK HERE and go to the entry form for the Zicam Cold Remedy.

There you go, you can use all of these products through out the year to stay super healthy so enter those giveaways! I did this giveaway post a little different this time, I guess I'll just call it an experiment. If you hate it, let me know in a comment or if you like it, let me know.

Giveaway Disclaimer

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