2 Bento #272 - Cucumber Dill Finger Sandwiches

Am I the only one who just LOVES cucumber sandwiches?  I have been craving them a lot lately.  I made this one for Ella with a mix of cream cheese, mayo, dill and cracked pepper.

Isn't this Yubo lunch box completely adorable?  This is the custom one that I won from Cristi at Bent On Better Lunches!

Bento #272 - Organic cucumber, cream cheese & dill on whole wheat, Goldfish crackers and organic pear.

Psst...I'm so excited to be Food Blog of the Day over at Foodista for my Zuppa Toscana recipe!!

2 World Health Day and Cookbook

Today is World Health Day, and Future Fortified has published a The Right Start Cookbook, which has some great recipe ideas.  Here are 24 healthy recipe ideas for the kids, including one from yours truly as well as from some of my BBF friends! Check it out, it's a free download!

"Future Fortified is a public awareness campaign of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). We enable individuals, businesses, and organizations to help millions of women and children around the world access to the essential nutrients they need to lead healthy, enriched lives." 

2 Publix FamilyStyle Fall 2012 Magazine

As I mentioned on my Facebook page, I am so honored to have been included in the Publix Fall 2012 FamilyStyle magazine!  I was interviewed several months ago, and I'm so excited that the issue is finally out!  If you live in the Southeast, you can pick up your own free copy at any Publix supermarket.

6 Bento #262 - Gyoza & Bell Peppers and Trader Joe's cookbook news!

First of all, I am so incredibly excited to announce that the cookbook I am featured in -  Cooking With Trader Joe's Cookbook: Easy Lunch Boxes - is now available for pre-order on Amazon! In fact, if you click "Look Inside" and check out the table of contents, Bentobloggy is listed on pages 157-162!! 

Just LOOK at this gorgeous spread!

Next, today is the very LAST day to enter for your chance to win the bento box starter pack I'm giving away, so enter here!

As for today's lunch, gyoza is the perennial favorite around these parts.  The brand we normally buy is Ling Ling all-natural chicken potstickers.  The sauce is in those cute flower sauce containers.

We also have sliced red bell pepper with ranch dip and frozen organic mixed berries.

The newly decorated Goodbyn Bynto!  Ella went all-out!

Bento #262 - Chicken gyoza with sauce, red bell pepper, ranch dip and organic mixed berries.

1 Bentobloggy Featured in a New Cookbook!

I've been really busy these last few weeks!  I'm working on a catch-up post, but I wanted this news to have its own billing - Bentobloggy is going to be featured in a brand-new Trader Joe's cookbook!

I am so excited that Bentobloggy will be represented in the newest book in their series - Cooking With Trader Joe's Cookbook Easy Lunchboxes - which will be available in August on Amazon.com.  How awesome is that?!

The amazing Kelly Lester, founder of Easy Lunchboxes, invited me and some other awesome bento-packing mamas to contribute to this great cookbook.  I'm dying to see which of my recipes made it into the book!  Keep an eye out for more cookbook news soon!

Emily


Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook: Easy Lunch Boxes

1 Urban Warrior Mom of the Month

I feel so honored to have been chosen by urbanwarriormoms.com to be their Urban Warrior of the Month!

Check out this great write up and interview about me and Bentobloggy here.

They also have a great recipe section of their site called Yum in my Tum, which has some wonderful dishes posted, so be sure to check that out as well.  Thank you Berna & Dyna!

0 Komrads

I am so proud and excited for Nari!  She's getting her own show on the Travel Channel!  
It's called Komrads, check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taAJOfL6jCI&feature=player_embedded

Here's a snap of Ella and Nari (and my sister Liz, and two of my aunts in the background) at our family reunion last July.

3 Bentobloggy Interview on WTOP Radio

I'm so excited!  I did a radio interview with WTOP radio early last week, and here we have the final product.

Bentobloggy - WTOP News


Click here for the written story online version on WTOP.com.

7 Bento Weekend

This weekend I was asked to present bento demonstrations at the High Meadows Indoor Farmer's Market sponsored by Harry's Farmer's Market (WholeFoods.)  I'm so grateful that two of my sisters were in town and threw their creative weight into it.  In fact, I talked everyone's ears off while they put together most of the bento boxes!  It was great fun, and we can't wait to do it again next time.

We met so many great folks who came by our table, and the entire market place was chock-full of amazing produce, eco-friendly and sustainable products. Over a thousand people visited! Check out the entire album on my Facebook page.

75 A BIG Thank You, and a BIG Giveaway

I want to thank each and every one of you who voted for Bentobloggy in the About.com's Readers' Choice Awards!  It's an enormous honor to even be nominated, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you SO much.  No matter who wins, it was fun and exciting.

We won't know until next Tuesday the 15th who the official winner is but until then...I have a little surprise which I've been saving for a special occasion, and I think now's the perfect time.

You saw that luscious-looking Tarte Tatin the other day, right?  Well, it was created in a wonderful Le Creuset Tarte Tatin 2 quart enameled cast iron dish from their new (old?) Heritage Collection.  I'm giving away one of these babies in the classic Flame color you see below (my personal favorite, which I collect like a fiend.)  And it's not just for tarts.  You can use it to cook absolutely anything - quiche, pizza, vegetables, you name it. If it fits, it'll cook beautifully on the stove and in the oven.  And how about those cool handles, huh?

HOW TO ENTER

Mandatory Entry:  All you need to do to enter is be a follower of this blog (either by clicking 'Follow' in the top left corner or through Google Friend Connect) AND Bentobloggy's Facebook page.  To enter you must leave a comment below telling me you follow in BOTH places.  Tell me what would you make in your new Tarte Tatin dish if you win.

Want to increase your chances of winning? 

Here are some additional ways to get entries:

- Blog about this giveaway. Leave a comment indicating that you've done so and post the link in a comment for me to see.

- Follow me on Twitter. Click to go to my Twitter page.  Leave a comment in this post telling me that you follow Bentobloggy.  

- Tweet about this giveaway. Leave another comment telling me you tweeted a link to this giveaway with a link back to your Twitter post.

- Add a link to Bentobloggy to your blog roll.  Leave one last comment with the verifiable link, and if you already have Bentobloggy on your blog, just leave a comment saying so!

That's five ways to enter, and five ways to win. Remember to leave a seperate comment for every entry you have. Otherwise, your entries may not be valid.  This contest is open to everyone with a valid ship-to address who lives outside my house.  Void where prohibited and all that jazz.  

You have until Monday, March 14th, by 11:59 PM EST time to enter.

The winner will be chosen using random.org and announced the following day, and the winner has about 48 hours to claim their prize - I reserve the right to choose a new winner after that. 

This contest is sponsored by Bentobloggy (me.)  This giveaway has no affiliation with any of the brands or links listed.

I also would like to take a moment to congratulate my competitors on their nominations.  I'm certain they appreciate their fans as much as I appreciate mine.  Here are their links in order of voting appearance:

Cake Wrecks 

Single Dad Laughing 
Mouses Houses 
Born Gay Born This Way 

Bentobloggy garnered approximately 8,625 unofficial votes.

Thank You!

17 Bentobloggy nominated for About.com's 2011 Readers' Choice Awards

This is such an amazing honor - Bentobloggy is a finalist (1 of 5!) for About.com's 2011 Readers' Choice Awards for 'Best Blog on Google Blogger.'  I'm floored!

Please click here go vote for Bentobloggy (and please tell your friends!)  No registration or anything required, just a click. Voting ends March 8th 2011.

You can check out and vote for the other categories and nominees here.

I want to thank all my wonderful and loyal readers for your support, and congrats to my fellow nominees!

                                                                                                       xoxo

                                                                                                          -Emily

Looking for the AllThingsForSale bento giveaway?  Click here.

2 Bentobloggy on IconApps

Neato!  I gave a short interview for IconApps, an application developer for the Apple platform.  I've been using their sweet calendar app called Intuition for quite a while now and love it!  Check it out here (or in the app store through your iPhone - it's FREE!  How's that for nice?)

Here is the link to the entire newsletter, it should be available for a limited time.

19 Thank you, Blogspot!

I am so honored!  First it was Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution fan page on Facebook that gave me a shout out as a good place to get ideas for healthy kid lunches.  Then AllRecipes.com featured my Chicken Valentino recipe on their Daily Dish (and subsequently published Bacon Wrapped Salmon.)  But today is the biggest honor so far.  Bentobloggy was hand-picked by Blogger.com as the "Blog of Note" for today, August 3rd 2010!

Lookie, there's me!

Thanks to all my new visitors!  If you would pretty-please click the "Follow" button at the bottom of the right column, and perhaps "Like" me on Facebook I'd really appreciate it!  I will be having a big giveaway in the next day or so to celebrate this huge honor so stay tuned.

Congrats to my fellow blogs of note too!

7 Chicken Valentino Featured on AllRecipes.com's Daily Dish!

Imagine my surprise when my friend told me that yesterday's Daily Dish email included my recipe for Chicken Valentino I posted about a few weeks ago!  How cool is that??  Though I cannot imagine why they used that particular picture.  Anyway, here's a screenshot. It went from 6,500 people who saved the recipe to almost 20,000!

Here is the link to the recipe on AllRecipes.com.

2 Bacon Wrapped Salmon

Woo hoo!  My recipe made it to allrecipes.com!  Check it out here:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bacon-Wrapped-Salmon/Detail.aspx

*************************************************

Emily, more bacon??  Yes!  While I was visiting my family a couple weeks ago, my mom intrigued me with her mention of a new recipe she made in which she wrapped salmon in strips of bacon.  A delicious use of some of my favorite things - bacon and salmon!  My mom is a great cook (she's who I got my skills from) and so I knew it would be good.  This is my take on it.

Here's what you'll need:

1 salmon filet per person (skin on, if possible)
olive oil
good bacon, raw
garlic powder
dill
salt & pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 375.  Take a baking sheet and spread it liberally with olive oil, and place salt and peppered (both sides) salmon filets skin-side down.  If you don't have salmon with skin, you could always use more bacon on the bottom.  Sprinkle the tops with garlic powder and dill, as much as looks good to you.  You really could use any herbs and seasonings that you like.  I was actually hesitant to use the dill with the bacon, but it is surprisingly VERY good.

Next, cut your bacon strips to size, long enough so that they cover all the salmon, but don't overlap too much.  Is this too Silence of the Lambs?  It's bacon, though, no worries.  A little cracked pepper on top of the bacon at this point would be nice too.

At this point I threw on a bunch of cut-up veggies that I could roast along side the salmon - asparagus, sweet peppers, baby portabellas, onions and tomatoes.  Just toss them with some more olive oil, salt and pepper, if you wish.

Cook everything for about 20-25 mins, tossing the veg once, then turn your broiler on High and broil to help the bacon crisp up.

My husband and E loved this, the salmon stays really moist from the bacon, and the skin helps protect the bottom from cooking prematurely.  Props to my mom for this great idea!!

ETA 7/1/10 - This recipe was published on AllRecipes.com today!  Go check it out here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bacon-Wrapped-Salmon/Detail.aspx

2 Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Bentobloggy.com via Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: I'm honored! Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution fan page has listed my blog http://bentobloggy.blogspot.com/ for ideas on how to pack healthy kid lunches!

"A lot of you have asked for ideas for packing lunches for your children to take to school. Here is a list I have compliled. Do you have any ideas or websites to add? Enjoy! :)Hugs, Nor Cal Mom "
http://anotherlunch.blogspot.com/
http://healthylunchbox.blogspot.com/
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/healthy-lunchbox-tips
http://www.healthcastle.com/lunchbox_healthy_ideas.shtml
http://settingofsilver.blogspot.com/2010/04/lunchables.html
http://bentobloggy.blogspot.com/

May 2 at 12:59pm  · Comment ·  · Share

When this show started, I was excited.  I thought that there would be tons of people in the town of Huntington, WV that would flock to the philosophy of fresh, healthy food, but was pretty shocked to see the resistance that he was getting from almost every corner.  Even more shocking is the quality of food that most of America's children are getting in school - garbage!  Please sign the petition for getting better foods in schools nationwide.

Sign the petition here.

If you didn't catch the show before it ended, you can watch it on hulu.