Calling All Bloggers (and my first EVER giveaway)

Dear fellow bloggers (and readers),

I have a story I'd like to share with you today - I know I'm not usually one to talk about much besides food and blogging, but today I need your help with one of my current missions in life and I just know that you'll be willing to help me out!

You see, almost four years ago I gave birth to my daughter. She was born 9 weeks early weighing only 3 pounds and fitting from my finger tip to just past my wrist. She had a grade IV hemorrhage in her brain, a hole in her heart, and also a congenital heart defect called patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). She was fighting for her life in the NICU as I stood by completely helpless, going home each night and leaving her behind, an hour from home, not knowing what might happen while I was gone. After 26 days she was finally healthy enough to come home. She received state of the art care in a Level III NICU. Care that without extensive research, might not have been available to her. The March of Dimes helped save my daughter's life by providing the research needed to help her overcome her obstacles.

Two years later, I had another preemie, my son was born only 5 weeks early but was much more sick than his sister despite "baking" a bit longer. He was on a ventilator and was unable to breathe on his own without tiring and causing his heart rate to drop. He also had episodes where he would just "forget" to breathe and would turn blue and need assistance to begin breathing again. Again, we were saved by research funded by the March of Dimes - our son received several rounds of surfactant therapy to help his lungs handle breathing without assistance.

We've been walking in the March for Babies for three years now, and we've been able to raise well over $2,000 in those three years combined for the March of Dimes. This year, we have a goal as a team to raise $2,000 by the time of our walk in April 2011. I've come up with a master plan for fund-raising - We're going to create our very own cookbook to publish and sell - all profits will go to the March of Dimes.

This, my fellow bloggers is where you come in. I'm looking for people to submit recipes to include in our cookbook. We are needing a total of 200-300 recipes in the following categories:

Appetizers & Beverages
Soups & Salads
Vegetables & Side Dishes
Main Dishes
Breads & Rolls
Desserts
Cookies & Candy
Miscellaneous (This & That)

Recipes should be submitted via email at foodiefairytale (at) gmail (dot) com.

For each recipe you submit you will be entered into a drawing for my very FIRST giveaway!

I'm sure you are all dying to know what the prize is, right??

The prize will be a basket full of some of my favorite cooking supplies, including some of my wonderful home-canned mango chutney, homemade vanilla extract, and more! Hurry and submit your recipes - giveaway ends on July 31st at 8:00pm EST. Please make sure to leave an email address in your comment so I know how to reach you if you win!

For each recipe you submit please leave me a comment to let me know the recipe has been emailed to me.

Don't want to submit a recipe, or want some extra chances to win? Here are some other ways that you can win! Please be sure to leave a comment to let me know you've done these as well.

• Follow my blog publicly
• Follow me on Facebook
• Follow me on Twitter (leave a comment with your twitter name)
• Blog about my giveaway (leave a link to your post)
  

I hope you all have a wonderful evening!