6 Bento #233 - Ham Rolls, Baby Bel & Cucumber Flowers

I did a crazy amount of grocery shopping this week.  I think I need to start watching one of those extreme couponing shows to get some tips.  I had heart palpitations when I added it all up.  Don't tell my husband.  ;)

Okay, so today we have ham rolls with adorable puppy and kitty picks, and a couple of Baby Bels in the main box.

In the side box there are cucumber flowers, fresh organic blueberries and some rice pilaf in cute heart cups.

Snack is a spiced apple & craisin muffin and a sweet clementine.

These are the boxes I picked up in a housewares shop in Chichester, England in June.  Love these!  They are really simple and easy to use.

Bento # 233 - Baby Bel, ham, rice pilaf, fresh blueberries & cucumbers.  Snack - Apple spice muffin & clementine.

0 Bento #228 - Teriyaki Chicken & Blueberries

I'm going to be having a good time experimenting with these adorable little Babybels!  This one below is a little girl with a pony tail.  A little rough because I only had a pairing knife.  I need to get an X-Acto.  The eyes are sprinkles affixed with a tiny dot of cream cheese.

Bento #228 - Aidell's teriyaki chicken, caramelized onions and jasmine rice with sliced green onions, fresh blueberries, organic baby carrots, grape tomatoes, ranch dip and a Babybel cheese.  Snack - Organic pear.

4 Bento #227 - The Owl & The Ladybug

 

BACK TO SCHOOL!  Today we have a super CUTE pot bellied owl PB&J sandwich with a jolly apple tum, cheese and blueberry eyes and apple beak and feet.

For the body I freehand cut the bread because I don't have a large oval cutter.  For the belly I cut one side of a Jonagold apple, and then used it as a template to cute out the middle piece of bread, and then set the cut side down on the peanut butter.  The wings are pieces of crust.

The ladybug is a Baby Bel, tab pulled off and cheese removed.  I cut out the dots with a small circle deco cutter, and then put the cheese back in.  The eyes are two of the cut out dots squished together.

We also have some really sweet and delicious fresh blueberries.  These are the best I've had in a long time!  We had some for dessert last night with sliced kiwi.  Ella actually made the salad herself, she's very proud of it and wanted some in her lunch.

Bento #227 - Organic peanut butter and strawberry jam with an apple slice, cheese & blueberries, croutons, and tossed salad.  Snack - Carrot apple Crusher and peanuts.

0 Bento #210 - BBQ Pulled Pork & Rice

What week of school is this?  I've lost track.  Third week, I think.  The early mornings are doing a number on me.  We finally were able to do some grocery shopping, though I swear my daughter tries to find new and exciting ways to hurt herself, especially in public.  This time she stuck her hand in the back of one of my MIL's auto-closing van doors.  Oh my goodness.  I was on the other side of the van getting my baby niece out, and another passing mom ran over and was able to open the door lickety-split.  She was fine, though, thank goodness!  This child is going to give me heart palpitations. We are already having to bandage her leg daily for the next several weeks, don't need any broken bones or [more] missing teeth on top of it.

Where was I?  Oh, grocery shopping (so exciting, aren't you jealous?) at Wholefoods. Whenever I go shopping with E we spend lots of time in the fresh produce section.  I almost always encourage her pick out which veggies she wants, but now I'm going to start making a point of having her try one new fruit or vegetable each visit.  This time she chose her favorite sugar snap peas and carrots as well as some fresh green beans, which we don't usually get.

This yummy pulled pork is from our friendly neighborhood butcher who smokes the pork himself.  So good.

The veggies are sauteed carrots, bell peppers and baby portabella mushrooms, leftover from a stir-fry I did for dinner, along with some rice and sugar snap peas.

Fresh blueberries round out lunch, with a playful seal pick.

Snack consists of some of Stacy's sea salt pita chips and some fresh ground honey roasted peanut butter, which is awesome except that they don't use salted peanuts.  So...all of the fresh ground butters at Wholefoods lack that essential bit of salt.  Boo.  But, the salted pita chips ought to take care of that nicely.

Bento #210 - Smoked pulled pork with BBQ sauce, rice, sauteed bell peppers, mushrooms and carrots and fresh blueberries.  Snack - pita chips, honey roasted peanut butter and multi-vitamins.

3 Bento #166 - Frog Prince Sandwich

Today I used one of my Lunch Punch Sand*wishes cutters to make this cute frog prince.  He's even got a sparkly green scepter.  Two tadpoles are peeking out of fresh blueberries and broccoli florets.

Bento #166 - Almond butter & organic strawberry jam sandwich, fresh blueberries and organic broccoli florets.

Enter the AllThingsForSale bento giveaway here!

6 Bento #165 - Four Cheese Heart Ravioli

These are the cutest four cheese ravioli's ever!  If you follow my Facebook page, I posted the other day that I found these adorable hearts at Costco.  Miss E thought they tasted amazing, even plain without extra sauce.  I cooked them using my "dumpling method" which is so much less time-consuming than boiling a huge vat of water and then babysitting them so they don't burst open.  Instead of crisping them, I used a bit extra water and simmered over medium heat, and they turn out wonderfully, very tender.  I cooked them with a little butter, which combined with the starches in the pan makes a nice and simple sauce.  

Bento #165 - Four cheese heart ravioli, fresh blueberries, organic baby carrots and ranch dip.  

Enter the AllThingsForSale bento giveaway here!

6 Blueberries faked in cereals, muffins, bagels and other food products

Like blueberry products?  Make sure that there are actual blueberries in them before you buy!

I just posted this video/article from Natural News.tv on my FB page, and thought it was worth reposting to the blog.

Blueberries faked in cereals, muffins, bagels and other food products - Food Investigations
by: Mike Adams

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=7EC06D27B1A945BE85E7DA8483025962

The blueberries found in blueberry bagels, cereals, breads and muffins are REAL blueberries right? Wrong! Award-winning investigative journalist Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, exposes the deceptive chemical ingredients and dishonest marketing of "blueberry" products from big-name food and cereal companies. The blueberries, it turns out, are made from artificial colors, hydrogenated oils and liquid sugars. See more episodes at www.FoodInvestigations.com

TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO:

Pictures of blueberries are prominently displayed on the front of many food packages. Here they are on boxes of muffins, cereals and breads. But turn the packages around, and suddenly the blueberries disappear. They're gone, replaced in the ingredients list with sugars, oils and artificial colors derived from petrochemicals.

This bag of blueberry bagels sold at Target stores is made with blueberry bits. And while actual blueberries are found further down the ingredients list, the blueberry bits themselves don't even contain bits of blueberries. They're made entirely from sugar, corn cereal, modified food starch, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, artificial flavor, cellulose gum, salt and artificial colors like Blue #2, Red #40, Green #3 and Blue #1.

What's missing from that list? Well, blueberries.
Where did the blueberries go?

They certainly didn't end up in Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal. This cereal, made by General Mills, contains neither blueberries nor pomegranates. They're nowhere to be found. But the cereal is made with red #40, blue #2 and other artificial colors. And it's even sweetened with sucralose, a chemical sweetener. And that's in addition to the sugar, corn syrup and brown sugar syrup that's already on the label.

A lot of products that imply they're made with blueberries contain no blueberries at all. And many that do contain a tiny amount of blueberries cut their recipes with artificial blueberry ingredients to make it look like their products contain more blueberries than they really do.

Kellogg's Blueberry Pop Tarts shows a picture of plump blueberries right on the front of the box. But inside the box, there's a lot more high fructose corn syrup than actual blueberries. And the corn syrup is given a blueberry color with the addition of -- guess what? -- red #40, blue #1 and blue #2 chemicals.

Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats also come in a Blueberry Muffin variety, with fresh blueberries prominently featured on the front of the package. But inside, there are no actual blueberries to be found. Instead, you get "blueberry flavored crunchlets" -- yes, crunchlets -- made from sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2.

And, if you can believe it, the side panel of this box features the "Frosted Mini Wheats Bite Size" logo, followed by the words "blueberry muffin" with pictures of blueberries, finally followed by "The Whole Truth." Except it really isn't the whole truth at all. It's more like a half truth.

These marketing deceptions even continue on Kellogg's website, where one page claims, "New Special K Blueberry Fruit Crisps are filled with blueberries and drizzled with vanilla icing." Except they aren't, really. What they're really filled with is apple powder, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, fructose, sugar, artificial colors red #40 and blue #1, all enhanced with a dash of blueberry puree concentrate.

Even seemingly "healthy" blueberry products can be deceptive. Betty Crocker's Fiber One Blueberry muffin mix enhances its small amount of actual blueberries with petrochemical colors, too: Red #40, Blue #1 and Blue #2.

At least Betty Crocker's Blueberry Muffin Mix admits it contains no real blueberries. Well, if you read the fine print, that is. It's ingredients reveal "Artificial blueberry flavor bits" which are made from dextrose, Corn Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Sugar, Citric Acid, Artificial Flavor, and of course the obligatory Blue #1 and Red #40.

When consumers buy blueberry cereals, muffins and mixes, they're under the impression that they're buying real blueberries. No ordinary consumer realizes they're actually buying blue coloring chemicals mixed with hydrogenated oils and liquid sugars. That's why this common industry practice of faking the blueberries is so deceptive.

Why can't food companies just be more honest about it? Nature's Path Organic Optimum Blueberry-Cinnamon Breakfast Cereal contains -- get this -- both blueberries and cinnamon.

Better yet, you won't find any red #40, blue #2 or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils in Nature's Path products. They even use organic blueberries and organic cinnamon.

Health Valley Low-Fat Blueberry Tarts are also made with real blueberries. You won't find any artificial coloring chemicals in this box.

So why can't Kellogg, Betty Crocker, General Mills and Target stores use real blueberries in their products instead of deceptively formulating them with artificial petrochemical colors that mimic the purple color of blueberries?

It's probably because real blueberries are expensive. And artificial blueberry bits, made with sugar, partially hydrogenated oils and artificial colors, are dirt cheap. If these companies can fool consumers into thinking they're buying real blueberries in their products, they can command a price premium that translates into increased profits.

Once again, in the food industry, deception pays off. And it pays big.

So what can YOU do to make sure you don't get scammed by a food company trying to sell you red #40 and Blue #2 as if they were real blueberries? Read the ingredients. If you see artificial colors on the list -- and they're usually found at the very bottom of the ingredients list -- just don't buy that product.

Put it back on the shelf and choose something else that's not deceptively marketed. And that's how you solve "the case of the missing blueberries."

This is Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, with Food Investigations for the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center, featured on NaturalNews.TV. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends. And watch NaturalNews.TV for a new episode each week. Take care.

10 Baked French Toast, Revisited

Last night I had the urge to bake, and since I eschew the kind of baking that calls for a lot of precise measurements, I decided to do something simple.  I had that gorgeous unsliced sourdough loaf I got from the Mennonite bakery, and since I have so much other sliced bread on hand, I hated to freeze it.  I resolved to cube it up and do the baked French toast recipe again.  I didn't really do anything differently except I added both blackberries and blueberries, but next time I do, a friend suggested I might use peaches - what a great idea!

I cannot tell you how good this smelled!

Voila!  Perfection.

Maple syrup is gooooood.

Oh my gosh!  Seriously.  The topping makes it's own caramel that melts into the top, and drizzles down when you cut into it, fresh out of the oven.  There was nothing left to do except serve up a couple slices for the fam, then pack up the rest for my husband's office.  If you were one of those people, I hope you enjoyed it!

1 Bento #82 - Egg Flower & Wild Blueberries

Today we're going to help my SIL pack up her classroom, so I packed a lunch for E to take and eat there while we work.

Bento #82 - hardboiled eggs with a blackberry, wild blueberries, artisan lettuce, mini oatmeal cookies and banana chips.

Also, this is in a new bento box that I picked up from Niko Niko this weekend.  I'm impressed by the locking style - instead of the handle hinges being the locking point, it's those tabs on the bento box itself that lock into the handles, so a lot less chance for hinge breakage.  I can see this one lasting a long time!

0 Banana-Blueberry Muffins

Banana-Blueberry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 brown bananas
1 egg (lightly beaten)
5 tbls milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
dash allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 F

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

In another large bowl, cream together sugars and butter, then add bananas, egg, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice and beat together until well combined.

Mix in sifted dry ingredients until just combined, and fold in walnuts and/or blueberries, if using.

Spread batter into one greased and floured 9x5 inch loaf pan, or muffin pan and sprinkle top with extra brown sugar.

Bake at 350 until top is brown and cracked along the top, and a toothpick inserted in the middle
comes out clean, about 1 hour, 15 mins. For muffins, bake for about 45-50 minutes.

0 Bento #64 - Cream Cheese Blueberry Duo

How annoying!  My watermark is vertically oriented today, because apparently Picasa doesn't save the rotation orientation...at least not the way I did it.  I'm too darn tired to mess with it.  I'm volunteering in her classroom this morning for centers.  I made this little sandwich with these whole wheat thin mini bread rounds I found and Costco, and layered one slice with strawberry cream cheese and the other side with plain, and put blueberries in between.  Yum!

Bento #64 - Strawberry & plain cream cheese sandwich w/blueberries, Goldfish crackers, sugar snap peas and dipping sauce.

0 Bento #63 - Pastel Eggs & Cheese

E wanted colored hard boiled eggs for lunch, and she chose blue and purple, and I did my best to accommodate her =)

Bento #63 - Halved pastel hard cooked eggs, mozzarella, paprika & onion dip, sugar snap peas and fresh blueberries.