Real Reviews, by Real People

(want to leave a testimonial? email contact@stephanieodea.com)

Hi Everyone!

My name is Angela. I am a wife, mother of one, WAHM, and I have a DARK SECRET. Jk! But, I do have a set of challenges added to the normal ones that are part of being a working mom.

I have struggled with severe anxiety, depression, and PTSD. My son and I both have ADHD and anxiety, which makes homeschooling, managing the house, and working a comedy of errors at times. We’ve tried public school in the past, but have found that our son didn’t thrive in that environment.

As a person with ADHD and anxiety, I tend to be a perfectionist who cannot handle stress well at all. If there is a problem, I want it resolved immediately, or I will make myself ill from the anxiety of it. This, of course, is not always possible, nor is it a great expectation to push onto a marriage partner. As life went on, I was becoming more and more ill, not sleeping well, and feeling like I had no control of my life at all.

I saw many counselors and doctors to try and find help, to no avail. My house, marriage, family, and health felt as though it were helpless.
Then, there was a breakthrough. I was introduced to Mrs. Stephanie O’Dea through Once A Month Meals.

Through working with her, I realized that it was possible to have the clean home, organized life, and quality family time that I had always wanted, but felt was
always out of reach, thus fueling my depression. Her plan gave structure and strategy to the parts of adulting I was struggling with most.

In only a few short months, utilizing Stephanie’s tips, I was feeling happy again and looking to the future, which is something that the many
counselors and doctors haven’t been able to help me feel in almost a decade.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, I highly recommend working with Stephanie to help ease your stress and
improve your life! –Angela

~ ~ ~

Dear Stephanie,

I have to thank you for saving my life… well at least my marriage. I am a teacher with two young children (2&8). As with most working moms dinner time is always hairy for me because it didn’t seem to matter what time I got home my children wanted to eat 10 minutes after we walked in the door. Seriously…. i know you can probably imagine the scene, whiney, hungry, children, hanging all over me and me trying to prepare dinner, keeping calm, failing miserably, and then in walks my husband. Everyday I tried, and every day it was the same. It just was not the atmosphere I wanted in our home at the beginning of the night.

In the first few weeks of summer my husband noticed a significant difference in how smoothly things ran and how much calmer evening life was. Since I was home I had all morning to prep dinner and then all afternoon to cook it. But that’s not reality. However, I made it my mission to make a change because everyone knows when Mommy’s happy every ones happy.

Then I was introduced to your blog. Hallelujah!!! I have spent the entire summer trying out recipes and have even started a binder with just your crock pot recipes in it. I have always used my slow cooker but to have an entire binder full of recipes along with the ones I already used I think will be my life saver. I am actually looking forward to dinner time with my family even after school starts again.

–R.N

~ ~ ~

Let me start out by saying I love, Love, LOVE your blog. I first heard about you when you made your appearance on Rachael Ray and haven’t stopped reading since. I have tried many of your recipes and will try many more before the year is up. In fact, I have an entire month’s menu planned around your recipes.

I really like that your recipes are health conscience and I love that you use soy. I have a lactose annoyance (it’s not full blown intolerance but a hindrance just the same) so I try to limit my dairy (Except for cheese, I eat lots of cheese. What can I say, I’m from WI and avoiding cheese would be wrong.)

The purpose of this email is not just to praise your crockpotting/blogging efforts but to also ask you a few questions. First, where will your “new recipe a day” blog go once the year is through? Second, have you considered copying your recipes to a CD and selling them? I don’t know all the legalities, copyright issues, etc. that may be involved with doing that but if you decide to do it I would buy your cookbook.

I hope you have a great holiday weekend and happy crockpotting for the remainder of the year!! You are a very entertaining read.

Thanks,

Sara

~ ~ ~

Ok – I’m a busy lady. Like most ladies… I have career, kids, and a pretty cute man. I also run a website for mothers (danger Will Robinson, DANGER!) and sometimes at the end of the day or week… the burden seems heavy.

I need you to know that I look forward to the blissful simplicity of your blog and the promise that chocolate fluff fondue holds.

I appreciate nothing more than the ease of the crockpot and the promise of the family time it assures me. (kiddos and I made Daddy’s birthday cake together today – fun? YES! Mess… yes… called in the hazmat team…)

In any case… thank you for what you do. You inspire me and bring me a sense of peace!!

Mahalo! (AGAIN!)
Jenifer

~ ~ ~

Hi Stephanie,

I don’t remember how I discovered your blog…probably through one of the gluten-free forums I belonged to. I must tell you that I’ve really, really, really enjoyed receiving your daily crock pot e-mails. The format is sweet and simple and the way you write is so friendly and open. The recipes have been fun and I love the verdict section because it helps me get a real life opinion. Who could sneak anything not so tasty past a kid’s nose?

You are close to fulfilling your one-year daily crock potting experiment and my hat is off to you for being so diligent and sharing what you’ve learned. I’m sick at home much of the time and with not being able to get out and about for days and sometimes weeks at a time, your e-mails made me feel like I still had some contact with the outside world. There are a couple friends who have hung in there with me, but we don’t talk recipes which I love to do. My mother and sister and I used to sit around together perusing cook books. They’re gone now and I’ve really missed doing that until I discovered your blog. You can’t imagine how much your writings make me feel like one of the girls again. 🙂

Thanks hun! I wish you and yours the very best!

Lisa in sunny Florida

~ ~ ~

Hi Steph,

Thank you so much for the replay of your time management for busy mums (moms!) I’ve eventually found 45mins to watch it and it was brilliant. I am going to start using some of the techniques you suggested starting with the me time every morning. I have three gorgeous children, a wonderful hubby, I work for myself plus the two dogs and three cats, therefore, life sometimes just runs away and I always feel like I am chasing not jogging happily alongside. (Or even at the front!)

You are an inspiration and I don’t know what I would have done with my slowcooker if I hadn’t stumbled across your website one day (it would probably gathering dust as we got bored of casseroles!) I now use it minimum twice a week. As you said in your video there is nothing like coming home after a long day at work to a fully cooked meal. Thank you.

Claire x

~ ~ ~

Hello Stephanie!

This might sound strange coming from me, because I’m not a mom, but I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your e-book that was included in the Ultimate Bundle (the mommy blogger next door).

I casually opened it, red the first page..and have officially finished reading it ALL in ONE sitting! I’m relatively new to blogging and I really like how clearly you explained all the topics and it was just so easy to read.

You have given me a boost to continue pursuing what I’m doing.

Thanks again,

Bea

~ ~ ~

I LOVED this. I spent THOUSANDS of dollars joining a well known business building ‘school’ a couple of years ago and I have never felt like it was worth the money, I never felt like I clicked with the (large) community of women and most of them have businesses ‘coaching people about how to coach’ haha, just like you said, and they are now charging thousands of dollars and they have never run a business.

I’ve joined other, less expensive, business building groups also, and it always comes down to having to do things their way and I’m not comfortable with a lot of their ways of doing things.

I’m going to purchase your ebook this week and hope to join the mastermind group, I’m starting my two blogs and subjects I’m passionate about and hope to do it my way and enjoy what I do.

Thanks!

Julie

~ ~ ~

Tomorrow I turn 68 years old. Most people think of the slow cooker as something that busy Moms and working couples use. I would agree since both of my daughters and my daughter-in-law use their crock pots frequently. However, I like to think of a slow cooker as something that seniors should use more often.

First, eating healthy is important at any age, but especially as we get older. Healthy eating can make the difference between an energetic, illness-free aging process, and spending most of your senior years in bed or in the doctor’s office. In addition, as we age, or memories aren’t as sharp as they should be, and we have all heard the stories of Grandma forgetting that she put dinner on the stove top and went out to work in the garden and came back inside to burned food or worse case scenario to a kitchen fire. I like to think of a Crock Pot as a way for seniors to safely prepare healthy meals.
Stephanie, maybe you could send a few slow cooking recipes to AARP magazine, along with an article on the safety aspects of a slow cooker for seniors and some ideas of how to select a slow cooker and some basic instructions on how to use the newer models. And suggest that next time the family asks Grandma what she wants for her birthday or Christmas, she could ask for a slow cooker!

I really enjoy your daily recipes, often forwarding them to my kids. I also have two of your cookbooks. Thanks for everything.

Hugs, Arlene

~ ~ ~

Dear Stephanie,

I’ve been following your blog for a while now and have made many of your wonderful recipes.

When you posted about your planner, Totally Together, I wanted to jump for joy! I know I yelled, “YES! This is what I’ve been looking for!!” because my husband said, “What?” while I was reading your post. I told him all about it and we both decided to support you (& help ourselves out) and pre-ordered it from Amazon. It came, then I gave birth to our second daughter. She is now one month old and we are in our second week of your planner.

We were just talking about how having the Daily 7 as a goal has really helped us! We would always talk about keeping the sink empty and how much easier it would be if we just put our plates straight into the dishwasher, but it never consistently happened. Now because we both have it as a goal in the foremost of our minds, it is becoming a habit. We love it!

And can I say how much I LOVE the boxes to check off every day?! I am such a list girl and that check mark is so gratifying to me at the end of a long day with two under two. I also completely identified with you cringing when a friend was folding the laundry the wrong way…I have been trying to let go more and be present for my girls instead of worrying about everything being just so.

So, from a longtime fan, THANK YOU! You are awesome and I love the way your brain works. Much like mine, but much more organized.

Sincerely,

Kara

~ ~ ~

Stephanie,

As I was talking to my psychotherapist this week about my anxieties over daily dinners, her $125 answer was “get yourself a crockpot”.

Me: “I don’t want stews every night.”

Psychotherapist: “You’ll be amazed at the gourmet dinners you can make. Go online.”

Me (skeptically): “Fine.”

And there you were. Falafels, Ribs, no way. Who needs psychotherapy when there’s a crockpot?

I’m going to Walmart right now.

LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog,

Lisa

~ ~ ~

Hi Stephanie —

This is going to sound a bit dramatic, and is not something I generally say to strangers, but…you’ve changed my life! Wooohooo. When I graduated from college my Nebraska mom gave me a crockpot – naturally. I gave it away and began my new life as an east coast sophisticate dedicated to learning to cook only from Julia Child and the Washington Post and NYT food pages.

Now, I am a suburban 47 year-old, work-from-home, stay-at-home mother of three (12, 9 & 2). I can say for a fact that there is nothing sophsiticated about having a melt-down every evening while trying to supervise homework, get kids to activities, meet a work deadline of my own, and cook a whole-food, well balanced, economical, delicious meal. Enter my new crockpot and your blog site – both courtesy of a dear friend.

I love that your recipes are diverse, creative, and made with real food – rather than processed “c-r-a-p”. Your writing is a huge added treat and I find myself laughing and relaxing as I cook. My picky, health -conscious husband loves the meals I’ve made so far and my kids are thrilled that I’m not such a grump from 4-6:00 every evening.

Thank you Thank you. The school bus is about to arrive and I have a Cheese Enchilada Stack in my slow cooker, a bowl of strawberries in the fridge, and whole new attitude.

All the best.
Joyce

~ ~ ~

Hi Stephanie,

For what it’s worth, I love your calendars… they are honestly so helpful and seem to be written for real people with families and busy lives. For me, they do exactly what you hope for—they help me go bit-by-bit every day, breaking things down into manageable bites. Plus, I love that you remind me to take care of myself, too!

Between these calendars and your little blue book that you published, I refer to them every week and plan my week around them.

Through all the big plans that I sometimes try to take on, yours are the ones that always seem doable, that I come back to and can actually complete. Well, mostly, haha. They are like a friend giving me a little nudge.

Wherever you decide to go with these calendars in the future, know that you made a huge difference for me. With a few laughs thrown in!

Thankfully,

Kelly.

~ ~ ~

Hi Steph

Thank you so much for these, I have found them absolutely wonderful to actually get myself organised and able to look after my family and my home. I love having something I am able to keep me in check and that I can check off daily. Everything is actually being done in my home now and I also get time to look after myself too.

So for me, it is a huge thanks that I send to you as I actually feel like I am treading water now and no longer sinking.

Kind regards

Cherie

~ ~ ~

PLEASE keep sending the calendars, Stephanie! They are saving my life! Ok, that might be a little dramatic. However, they do help me to keep the chaos at bay. I actually print them off….and copy & cut certain quotes, tasks, recipes, etc. and attach them to my paper planner. I am still a pen and paper gal! I definitely hope you continue and am completely on board with the LESS IS MORE theme. I heard this is recent months and found it encouraging too – “Stop the glorification of busy’”. GREAT REMINDER for us all in this fast-paced culture of ours. THANK YOU for doing your part to help keep overwhelmed mamas on track in their homes and with their families.

Many blessings,

Susan

~ ~ ~

I am sure you have gotten many compliments on the blog, but I just want to add mine. I came on to your blog after your Rachael Ray appearance. In fact it was ‘during’ the show I logged on. So I had the marvelous ‘chat’ time every day with you. I so appreciated the chat, I felt was a ‘one on one’ time with you, in my usually solitary day. There were days when you saved my sanity by relating the hi-jinks of your family. Made me feel soooo normal, lol. Thank you again for your humour, family, down-to-earth sensibilities. You really are a bright and funny woman, one that I aspire to.

Many huggs

~ ~ ~

Dear Steph,

Congrats on the recent t.v. show spot–sounds like it was a blast! I’ll have to check it out.

I’m writing to thank you for bringing joy to my email inbox. Daily, I can count on your emails that put a smile on my face. And more often than not, your tone literally makes me laugh out loud–and where I work (Stanford University—not too far down the road from you! 🙂 it can be a very dry, and painfully QUIET environment, at times! The laugh is needed, to say the least. Today was no exception!

Happy slow cooking to you, and hope your friend Georgia survived her bbq snafu!

Sincerely,

Shannon