Eat Your Books

Update at end of post!!

No, I don't actually want you to eat your books! I would rather you ate something a bit more nutritious.

What I actually want to tell you about is a website. One that, now I have found it, I do not know how I would live without it. I know that is a bit of a dramatic statement, but in foodie terms it is a blessing.

I cannot remember how I stumbled across it. Someone must have mentioned it or I must have read about it somewhere. I was very excited when I got to the site.

What does the site do? You may ask. Well it is basically a search engine for your cookbooks. You add all the cookbooks you have to your bookshelf and any of the foodie magazines that they cover. They all appear on your bookshelf with a nice wee photo of the cookbook cover.

I don't know about you, but I don't use my cookbooks enough. If I do decide to use one, I end up sitting on the floor with piles of books all around me. To be honest, now I am a mum and back at work, I just don't have the time to waste Sunday afternoons just sitting and idly flicking through cookbooks, as fun as that is. So what happens is apart from that initial surge when the book arrives, they mostly sit on the shelf, unless I know what I am looking for.

This is where Eat Your Books comes in. Say you have something you need to use up in the fridge, an ingredient getting near it's use by date. All you do, is pop over to Eat Your Books and type your ingredient in the search box and EYB comes back to you in seconds with your results. It will list all the recipes in your cookbook collection that feature that ingredient, with details of the main ingredients you need. And EYB have a database of over 89,000 cookbooks and add more everyday. Voila, no need to search through all your cookbooks, just a quick look for the one you need.

Here is my search for mascarpone. There were 79 results. Click on the photos to enlarge them.




Next I click on the recipe I am interested in and a list of main ingredients will appear, along with a star rating if it has one and also a review if it has one.


You can also search for online recipes. If any of the recipes from your cookbooks are online (on the official site of course) there will be a link and they are also starting to include blogs that you can add to your book shelf and searches. EYB have asked if they can add Tinned Tomatoes and I was delighted.

One of the first bloggers to be added was Lori over at Recipe Girl Here is one of her entries, which came up in my mascarpone search, with a link directly to the recipe.



It's great isn't it? I love it and it is getting a fair bit of use in this house.

Tweet

To Join, you can go to Eat Your Books website and add 5 of your cookbooks for free, just to try it out or choose a monthly ($2.50) or annual ($25) paid membership. Well, I was on the site for about 5 minutes before I had flexed my credit card and bought a year's membership. It is more than worth the spend. Such a fabulous resource especially if you have the 67 books I have or even more.

I got in touch with Jane Kelly one of the founders of Eat Your Books and after having a lovely chat, I asked if it would be possible to have a membership to give away. Jane was more than happy to oblige and has offered a free lifetime membership for one lucky reader.



So the same guidelines as usual . To win a free lifetime membership to Eat Your Books (worldwide):

1. just leave me a comment.

For extra entries:

2. Follow my blog Tinned Tomatoes and leave a separate comment to say you have done so.
3. Follow me @tinnedtoms on twitter and leave a separate comment to let me know you have done so.
4. Follow @EatYourBooks on twitter and leave a separate comment to let me know you have done so.
5. Tweet the competition using (Win a free lifetime membership to @EatYourBooks
over at http://tinyurl.com/6lbveee ) and leave a separate comment to say you have done so.
6. Like the Eat Your Books Facebook Page and leave a separate comment to let me know you have done so.

Yes, that is 6 opportunities to win!

Remember to leave separate comments as each comment is a separate entry.

The giveaway is worldwide. I am happy to post it out to the winner, wherever they live. The giveaway runs until Sunday 13 November 2011.

Good luck everyone!

UPDATE!!!

I have just been over to Eat Your Books and realised they have added my blog! Yay I am so excited *dance about the room*

So if you join EYB, remember to add Tinned Tomatoes Blog to your bookshelf!


Disclosure Statement: I bought my own membership and EYB did not approach me to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. In line with Tinned Tomatoes as a featured blog on EYB, I have been offered a free lifetime membership to follow on from the one I purchased. This has not had any bearing on this review.