TwitchCon tickets are NOW ON SALE!

TwitchCon. The convention for the greatest gamers in the world. This is the SECOND annual TwitchCon and it's just A LITTLE LESS THAN 5 MONTHS AWAY! Now, I can't speak from experience because I didn't get to make it to the TwitchCon first meeting last year, but I can tell you from sheer knowledge, it is an AMAZING event and worth every penny to go! So many of your favorite Twitch Partnered streamers will be there and you'll get to chat with them up close and personal if you run into them!

And, I know what you're going to ask, I WILL BE THERE THIS YEAR! Yep, good ol' Jane-the-Lifecaster will be in the flesh! I'll be strolling about, giving high-fives to all who ask and chilling with my favorite internet buds!

What does that mean for you? Well, obviously that means you should go too! It's an amazing three-day convention filled with gaming peeps, tons of vendors and activities, and just hanging out in California with the best of the best! I mean, come on. Gamers are the absolute most interesting people in the world (Not an opinion. It's a fact.) This year, though, Twitch Creative is blowing up on the site. I wouldn't be surprised to see some great Creative streamers making their way around the show floor!

Want to go? How do you sign up? Buy your tickets through me! If you buy your tickets through my link below, it directly supports me! You're buying your tickets anyway, why not use this link and support one of your (I hope) favorite broadcasters on Twitch? I would love you so much!

So, reserve your tickets soon and let's all make our way to TwitchCon 2016! You can read up more about it on the website here!

Amazing Hype-Yourself-Up-For Breakfast Healthy Bran Muffins!

Ahh...bran muffins. The “brussel sprout” of the muffin variety. On a normal day if someone gives you the choice between a blueberry, banana chocolate, or bran muffin you would definitely go for the former two before you settle with the latter. 

Well be prepared to GET FLOORED! (No, I'm not a floor-tile salesman, sorry.) These delicious muffins are jam packed with nutrition and taste just like Heaven dropped a bit of gold-brick-road dust into your mouth. Just make a huge batch of these, try to not eat 4 or 5 of these immediately out of the oven, and stick them in the freezer for an amazing heat-and-go breakfast muffin! 

I originally found the recipe here but tweaked it up a bit to get more tastiness in each bite. Yes, there are vegetables in this muffin but trust me...you are going to love my muffin. The first time I put these together I made 3 batches for a freezer meal party since we had 3 families we were making these for. Everyone was upset when their batch of bran muffins ran out! I don't gloat over food I made but these are dang tasty and I NEED to share these with you.

So here they are, I'm making these on my Twitch feed today. Hopefully you're able to make it!

Jane's Breakfast Bran Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup flaxseed meal
•  ¾ cup oat bran
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup Splenda (or regular sugar, if you prefer)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¾ cup grated or finely chopped carrots (about 1 good-sized carrot)
• ¾ cup grated or finely chopped zucchini (about 1 good-sized zucchini, without the seed innards)
• 2 whole apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1/8 cup raisins
• 1/8 cup dried cranberries
• ¾ cups nuts (I used chopped walnuts)
• ¼ cup agave nectar
• ½ cup milk
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, flaxseed, oat bran, brown sugar, Splenda (or regular sugar), baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Use a wire whisk to mix until brown sugar clumps are smoothed out.

Mix in carrots, zucchini, and apples. (Note: A julienne peeler or a spiralizer works great for the carrots and zucchini. Just chop up the sliced pieces so they’re about ¼ to ½ inches long.)

Mix in raisins, cranberries and nuts.

In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients together – agave nectar, milk, eggs and vanilla – and then pour everything in the large bowl and mix well. Honestly, you can get away with not mixing the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl but for those of you who like to, you have the option either way.

Grease or line 24 muffin cups. (Since these muffins don't have any oil in them, I highly suggest not going with the liners and greasing the muffin tins. These stick to the paper liners pretty good.) Since these don’t really rise it's okay if it looks like there is too much in one cup. This recipe splits pretty evenly into 24 cups.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 F.

Store in the refrigerator, OR…

If you are freezing, let them cool completely. Use a gallon-sized freezer bag and fill so the muffins are sitting flat, or stick them all on a baking sheet and cover them. Freeze them flat for a few hours and then you can break them up and stick them in a more convenient freezer place. If you’re like me, you have a tiny freezer so giving one item so much space is not ideal. The bags work great for me but do what you have room for!

The Brand New "Do-It-With-A-Book" Contest!

I know I have some book lovers in the house. I know lives are busy and we aren't able to read as much as we used to, or would like to, but you book lovers still love the thought of books, the sight of them, the smell. Even now, seeing your Audible app on your phone or your Nook sitting on your desk gives you a giddiness that makes you crave a new story. Before I even get to the contest, I need you in my book club! I totally understand that jobs, kids, and busyness are real things but reading is something we just can't shake off! 

I would absolutely love to be your motivation to read a new book each month! The cool thing about my book club is that you don't need a ride to get to my place. You don't have to be in the same state or country. You just need a computer! That's right! We meet virtually! Every first Tuesday of each month we meet at 9:00pm CST on my broadcast. I lead the club with my video and all the members are free to chat in the box provided! It's just an hour out of your evening. It's totally doable! I know, I know. Take some time. Think about it. It's a great decision though. The books are usually max. 350 pages and it's always something everyone votes on during the book club meeting. Come check it out on Facebook. You can see our community here. 

Now...to the fun stuff! 

Jane's Coffee Table Book Club's "Do-It-With-A-Book" Contest

This is another picture contest, so get your Polaroids ready! For this contest I want you to take the theme of the book and have you doing whatever the theme is with the book! Make sense? No? Okay, take a look at the pic below.

See how I’m eating a cook book? Take a book (let’s say Moby Dick) and apply the theme of the book (in this case nautical hunting) to the picture. Your picture could be you on a boat hunting the Moby Dick book. Or if you used Harry Potter you could dress the book as Harry and you as Ron or Hermione and try and perform spells at random people.

The Rules:
Photoshop – allowed, but there has to be some reality to the picture. Don’t go crazy overboard. I still want to see your creativity in the real world!
Nudity – none, please. Even if your book is “50 Shades of Grey”, you can do weird stuff, just no nudity or overly sexual themes.
Submitting multiple pictures – do it! Feel free to submit as many as you’d like, just know that only one of your pictures can win a prize.
How to submit - Pictures must be submitted through Facebook (by tagging the book club "Jane's Coffee Table Book Club" – you must be in the book club in order to tag it) or through Twitter by using the hashtag #JanesCoffeeTableBookClub

Prizes:                                                                 
There will be two winners this contest!
1^st place - $20 Amazon card
2^nd place – 1 credit toward an upcoming book club book

Pictures need to be submitted by April 3, 2016 April 4, 2015 11:59pm CST (extended the date because I just love you guys). Winners will be announced April 5, 2016 during book club (which starts at 9:00pm CST) Good luck! Can't what to see what you have!