Review: What Color is Your Parachute: Guide to Rethinking Interviews

      I received a free copy of What Color is Your Parachute: Guide to Rethinking Interviews from Blogging for Books in order to review. I think this is a really great little book.  I do not have much interview experience. I tend to stay in a job forever. However, I am on the cusp of a career change and envision getting more practice than I may have ever anticipated.
      Interviews are more than a little terrifying. I do not excel at selling myself.  However, this guide tells you there is MORE to the interview than selling yourself. It gives great tips on what questions to expect during the interview, what is the underlying reason for some of the questions asked, and what questions you need to ask the interviewer.  This is just to name a few of the very useful tips in this guide.
      With a list price of under $13.00 and 112 pages, there is no great investment of time or money. I feel this guide can improve your interview skills, and consequently your chances of landing the job if for no other reason than giving you an idea of what to expect during an interview.  You can put together answers for what will most likely be asked and plan a strategy for getting information from your prospective employer. All in all, I think this is a nice little book to have on hand for any job seeker.

Review: Great American Slow Cooker Book

I received this cookbook free in order to review from Blogging for Books. Normally, I don't give fully illustrated cookbooks a second glance.  There is nothing better as advertisement than a beautiful, glossy photo of the finished dish - except maybe the dish itself.  But this cookbook is well-worth picking up and taking home.  The scope of recipes is impressive, encompassing breakfast through dessert and for all tasts.  The layout is well thought out and the hints through are invaluable.  The authors' notes make is seem personal. The book itself is lovely.

Recipes are given for three sizes of crockpots.  The recipes aren't tripled, but rather formulated for each size ensuring a flavorful dish no matter what size crockpot you use. 

While there are many recipes I know my family would not enjoy, there are even more that they will.  Containing 500 recipes, there really is something for everyone.  I don't normally look forward to cooking, but I couldn't wait to try out some of these recipes.  Many of these recipes use spices and ingredients I had (again - I'm not a big on cooking, but I managed to find some recipes that used things I already had. The first recipe I tried was the Turkey Pot Pie.  One of the first tips given is not to make substitutions first time using the recipe. I used chicken instead of turkey...no matter. This was awesome!  My picky husband loved it! A success! The next day (today), I trying out another recipe - chicken and spinach stuffed cannelloni. It smells wonderful and I can't wait for dinner to taste it. A real meal in two days is unheard of in my house!  I'm considering replacing my 20 year old slow cooker with a new one. This cookbook is that inspiring!