Monday, January 31, 2011

Hearth and Soul Hop - Volume 33

In my corner of the world today....the airways are buzzing with news of the impending snowstorm destined for Oklahoma tonight and tomorrow.  I'm not sure it meets the "Snowzilla" dreams of my kids....but time will tell as it will soon be upon us.

 If you haven't done it yet....This is a shameless request for you to follow my blog by clicking on the RSS feed....or with the Google Follow Me button on the left colum of the page.  Thank you!


The Hearth and Soul Hop is born as a continuation and expansion of the Two for Tuesday Recipe Blog Hop and we hope you will join with us in sharing our beliefs that food not only nourishes our bodies, but our souls! To really get clear on what we are talking about, please check out our nifty new mission statement!

Hearth and Soul Mission:

Food from your hearth, to feed your soul. Food that follows your intuition. Preparing food from scratch to nourish your family…body, mind AND soul! Food made with your own hands…infused with energy and passion and intent. Real food made by real people to feed real families (big and small, in blood or spirit). Ingredients from scratch, be it something grown in your garden or raised on your land…food foraged in the field or woods…food from local farms, farmers, or farmers markets…or even ingredients chosen by you from your local market that will be turned into something that feeds your soul. Tapping the food memory that each of us has stored inside; letting it guide and influence our own time in the kitchen.

We hope to embrace not only the “expected” areas of real food, but also those who want to incorporate healthier choices without sacrificing their love of food…how it tastes, the memories it conjures up, the comfort it brings. Yes, we’re trying to steer clear of packaged, processed, and boxed foods in favor of real foods….without absolutely excluding the sometimes frowned upon white sugar or flour (because the body craves what it craves…and sometimes things just don’t taste the same when you replace these). Making conscious choices and being present in the now with what your body needs…and taking steps towards exploring and enjoying healthier choices. If you take the time to listen, your body will tell you what it needs.

The warm comfort of the home hearth…stories, anecdotes, lessons, adventures, journeys, recipes, meals, beverages…we want to share the “why” of how food feeds more than just our bodies…how it also feeds our souls. After all, aren’t these the essential ingredients in defining real food? Please share links from your Hearth ‘n Soul with us each week.

Rules for linking:

Please use your best blog hop etiquette when linking. The rules are in place to help everyone have the best blog hop experience possible. Because of the overwhelming success of Two for Tuesday, a few changes have been made in the rules, so we kindly ask you to please review them so we can all be on the same page.

If you are new to a blog carnival, or blog hop, it is very easy to learn how to join in the fun! Simply go to the blog post for that carnival and scroll down to the bottom where you will see a small box that will say, Your Next or Your link here. When you click on that link, you will be asked to enter the URL of your recipe or article. Please link to your article only and not directly to your blog front page. The linky may ask you to upload a photograph from your computer, then you click next and leave a comment on the blog hosts post. You will also be asked to place a link back to the blog host, which means, adding in the URL of the blog hop post which you can copy from your browser address bar and insert at the bottom of your post. You could also choose to place a blog badge into your post, which was explained below. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

*A host will visit each link and read and comment on your post before the next linky period opens, because this is personal for us…we want you to know that we appreciate that you’ve taken the time to create a post, add a link back to the hop, and add your link! We’ll be sure to acknowledge this with a comment and a tweet on Twitter (using hashtag #hsoul).

-One link per week, please

-Must include a link back to one/any of the host sites (through worded link or badge) in individual post, not on sidebar…although we love having links on your page, as well (this benefits all of us). You will be sent a gentle reminder if no link is added to your post, we understand that sometimes people forget…but if it becomes a regular occurrence, (even though we don’t like to do it) your post may be removed. It’s just not fair to those who do take the time and show the grace to link back.

-Try to link a post that you think fits into the mission. You don’t have to link up every week…link up when you can. We welcome posts that are shared in other events. If you have an older, archived post that you want to add, we welcome that…as long as you go in and add a link back to Hearth ‘n Soul

-Linky will stay open from 10 pm Monday to 11:59 pm Wednesday (Eastern time).

Let the fun begin!!!

Thanks! Alex@Amoderatelife, Heather@Girlichef , Christy@frugalcrunchychristy, Butterpoweredbike@HungerandThirst, and Jason of Alternative Health and Nutrition

More Information for Those New to Blog Hopping!

...You veterans can just scroll down to the linky!

What is a blog hop you ask? Well, you can find out by visiting my Hearth and Soul Blog Hop page for a complete explanation, but basically, it is a way to link together various foodie love blogs so that you can enjoy many new healthy food recipes that you might not have been exposed to before!

Right now, A Moderate Life, Girlichef, Hunger and Thirst, Frugalcrunchychristy, and Alternative Health & Nutrition are teaming up to share the Blog Hop with their audiences. If you haven't been to their blogs before, then you certainly should, as they are tremendously creative cooks who are passionate about health and food and all are taking steps to cook more wholesome and soul nourishing food. This means you get exposure to four blog audiences for the price of one link, so we should really rename this 5 for Tuesday! :)

So, please link a recipe using the linky tools below and your link will be shared over 5 different blogs and with 5 different blog audiences. Recipes should include healthy ingredients and can be old or new recipes or posts. Articles on real food, slow food, foraging, herbal remedies, local food, sustainable food, organics, gardening or any healthy eating information is also welcome. Each participant's link will be tweeted and given a high quality feedback comment to increase your exposure.

Please use your best blog carnival etiquette and use the URL to your post, and not your blog landing page. Please post a link in your article back to the blog you are using the Linky Tools with and if you want to, please share the hearth and soul hop badge listed below to promote the Blog Hop. We would ask you to subscribe to our feed and Tweet the Blog Hop as well if you would be so kind!



This linky list is now closed.