Wednesday, April 1, 2026
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Win It Wednesday sponsored by Pizza Hut

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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We are happy to welcome back Pizza Hut as a “Win It Wednesday” sponsor and this time they are giving away 3 e-gift cards to 3 lucky Biters for their new and exciting Natural Pizza.

The Natural(TM), is a new pizza made entirely from natural ingredients. It’s the first natural pizza to be offered by a national pizza chain. There are no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives – just great pizza taste!

The Natural’s flavorful multi-grain crust has received the Whole Grains Council Seal of Approval, with eight grams of whole grains per slice. The sauce is made from organic tomatoes and the cheese is an all-natural mozzarella cheese.

The Natural comes topped with new natural toppings, including sliced Italian Sausage, pepperoni, marinated sliced Roma tomatoes, and fire-roasted red peppers. It can also be topped with several traditional pizza toppings that are natural, including mushrooms, pineapples, green peppers, red onions, and diced tomatoes.

The Natural will be served in pizza boxes made from up to 75% recycled material, great news for anyone looking to add some “green” to their order of The Natural.

Three Lucky Biters will win their choice of one of any of the Natural Pizza varieties.

How to Win: Just leave a comment below with your email address. One entry per person.

This Giveaway ends, Tuesday January 13th at 11:59 est. Three winners will be selected with the assistance of Random.org. Prizes will be delivered in the form of e-gift cards directly from Pizza Hut.

Best of luck everyone.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Salmon in Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Day two of my meal plan and I’ve already veered off of the intended path (a bit). But first, I must digress. Do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of a bowl full of this stuff? I must have taken 20 pictures and this is the best I could get. We’re getting a new super duper camera this week though, so look for some really great pics once I figure out how to use the dang thing.

Ok, moving on. The original recipe was for Pasta and Chicken with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce. However, after Turkey meatloaf Monday night and leftovers for lunch, I had had enough bird for awhile. I decided to swap out the chicken for Salmon because I had one piece of frozen Salmon in the freezer. I also felt the dish could use some color so I added green peas. I think next time I’ll add baby spinach to the mix.

I swapped the 2 cups of heavy cream for 4 ounces of low fat cream cheese and doubled the amount of chicken broth.

The original recipe called for fresh sage so I went out in the freezing rain to our lonely little vegetable bed to see if any of my sage was still alive. Believe it or not, my sage plants are still stubbornly surviving in my otherwise barren garden.

If you’ve never grown sage, put it on your list of fresh herbs to grow next summer. There’s nothing like fresh herbs and they are such money savers. Here are some tips on growing and preserving sage as well as cooking suggestions. I love to use chopped sage in stuffed mushrooms and tossed with butter as a simple pasta sauce for meat or cheese filled tortellini or ravioli. I know a classic way to serve gnocchi is with a sage and butter sauce.

Alright, so, on to the recipe. After tasting the pumpkin sauce, I felt it needed a touch of sweetness so I added a couple tablespoons of McCutcheon’s Tomato Preserves which I had in the fridge thanks to my buddy over at Househubbie. You could probably substitute Red Pepper Jelly or even honey, but taste before adding. You may decide to omit the sweet altogether.

Ingredients

8 oz dried whole wheat pasta (I bought a fancy, shmancy organic kind made by Bionaturae that resembled snail shells. Great for holding peas. If you haven’t tried it lately, whole wheat pasta has really come a long way.)

2 Tbs butter

1 Salmon Fillet

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 to 1 cup chicken broth

4 ounces low fat Cream Cheese

2 Tablespoons Tomato Preserves (pepper jelly or honey can be substituted)

1 Tbs fresh sage leaves, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup coarsely toasted chopped pecans

1/2 lemon

Directions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; keep warm. (I tossed with a little olive oil to keep from sticking). Meanwhile, heat 12 – inch skillet over medium high heat. Add Olive Oil and saute salmon fillet until it flakes with a fork but is still dark pink inside. Remove salmon and keep warm. Melt butter in same skillet until sizzling, add garlic and saute for 2 minutes being careful not to brown it. Break salmon into bite sized pieces and add to pan along with cooked pasta.) Combine pumpkin, chicken broth, cream cheese, sage, tomato preserves and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk until cream cheese is melted and all ingredients combine easily. Pour over pasta mixture; gently toss to coat. Add 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and toss. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with pecans. Drizzle each serving with juice from lemon and enjoy.

Barbecue Turkey Meatloaf

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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I am happy to report that the first meal from my first full week of planned meals was a success. This recipe came from Shoprite.com and was the first time I ever cooked or even thought about cooking with Special K cereal.

The Meatloaf has a surprisingly creamy texture and very flavorful. Prior to baking, the mixture is extremely wet, but this makes a very moist meatloaf. The only change I made to the original recipe was the addition of 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce to the Barbecue sauce.


INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup catchup

3 Tbs honey

1 Tbs prepared mustard

2 Tbs vinegar

1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce

2 egg whites

2 cups Special K®

2 Tbs chopped onion

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey

DIRECTIONS

1. To make Barbecue Sauce, measure catchup, honey, mustard, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce into small mixing bowl; stir to combine. Set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cereal, onion, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce; beat well. Add ground turkey; mix until combined. Shape turkey mixture into loaf in foil-lined shallow baking pan. Score top by making diagonal grooves with knife; fill grooves and brush top of turkey loaf with remaining Barbecue Sauce.

3. Bake at 350°F about 1 hour. Cool slightly; slice to serve.

This Week’s Menu Plan

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Have you ever seen anyone this happy to be grocery shopping? This wasn’t the look on anyone’s face at the store yesterday, I assure you. Never, ever go to Shoprite on the Sunday starting their “Can, Can” sales. I should be on meds for that decision. I have never seen it so busy and that’s including all Holidays. No wildly grinning patrons like this guy were milling about, but, he makes me smile, so he’s heading up my story today.

In preparation for my hellish trip to Can Can land, I spent hours Saturday on the Shoprite website combing the online circular and looking through the one in print. I definitely recommend having both handy. There were items I spotted in the print version that I would not have found online.

The online circular is really a cool service and a very easy system to use. The recipe links are extremely handy. For instance, zucchini is on sale this week. I clicked on the recipe link right next to the zucchini and up pops a zucchini and green chilies recipe that I will serve with the Oven Baked Flounder recipe (also found on the site.) The recipes even include check boxes next to the ingredients so you can add those you need.

I wonder how many people are aware of what grocery store websites offer these days. An older woman saw me looking at my printed out list which is divided into shopping departments in the store and said, “Wow, you’re really organized.” (Boy, she sure doesn’t know me.) I told her that Shoprite’s website does this for you. The site also has a ton of click and print coupons. And, did you know that Shoprite has a “personal shopper” service They’ll hand pick all the items on your list and you just come and pick it up? Oh, man, I should have taken them up on this service yesterday.

Shoprite is not alone here. Most of the major Food chains offer online services, so explore your favorite stores and see what tools are offered. I think you will be surprised.

Thanks to the help of SR’s online features, my final meal plan is as follows:

Monday: Barbecue Turkey Loaf with Green Beans and Baked Potatoes
Tuesday: Pasta and Chicken in Pumpkin Cream Sauce with a Salad**
Wednesday: Wasabi Crusted Cod with Butternut squash and Kale
Thusrday: Date night, no cooking
Friday: Italian Chili (Sausage and Beans) with salad and bread (not on site yet)
Saturday: Chicken Enchiladas
Sunday: Oven Baked Flounder with Zucchini and Green Chilies and Cous Cous.

I’m going to make an adjustment to the cream sauce by omitting the cream and adding low fat cream cheese. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

My goal with this meal plan, as discussed in a previous post, is to stop my habit of going to the store every day. So far, it has not worked as planned. I still had to run to Foodtown for a few forgotten items. Hopefully, the rest of the week will be “supermarket free” for me.

Taka in Asbury Park

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Last night, a group of friends and I had a great time at Taka in Asbury Park. I had heard about Taka from my boxing buddy, Deborah, and some of my other friends had also heard about it through friends, so obviously people are talking about this new hot spot.

Zagat describes the space as “Beautiful, sophisticated and sleek.” They go on to claim that “admirers are entranced by the winning spot that seems straight out of Manhattan.” I don’t know that I would go so far as to say we were “entranced” but we definitely all agree that Taka has a Manhattan vibe. One of the things I liked about the atmosphere was that it didn’t feel like a BYOB. The restaurant is spacious, a little on the loud side and hums with excitement.

Our table of eight was ready when we arrived promptly at 8pm. The waiter who was in his twenties and sporting a sweet pompadour straight out of Viva Las Vegas was a little slow to get our wine bottles opened, but we forgave him.

The eclectic menu is what really sets this sushi restaurant apart from the masses. First on the list of favorites (according to Elvis) are two crazy sounding rolls pictured here.

The roll on the left is the Crab Apple Roll, a California roll topped with creamy crab and apple salad. The roll on the right is called the Mexican Roll, another California roll only this time topped with fresh Guacamole and Sriracha sauce. This surprising combination was the table favorite, really tasty.

The appetizers and entrees were equally inventive and our table did a good job of selecting a variety of offerings. The picture below is of the Tuna Butsu appetizer ($10), cubed raw Tuna & Avocado Marinated with Wasabi Soy Sauce. It got excellent marks.

The Sunomo ($9) pictured below is another exotic appetizer which is a sampling of Octopus, Cucumber, Squid-Seaweed and Hiyashi Wakame (seaweed salad).

For dinner, I ordered the Shrimp Curry ($18) which was just the right amount of spice and topped with perfectly cooked shrimp. Peter ordered the Short Ribs (pictured left, $28), another waiter recommended dish. The ribs were cooked perfectly and Peter really enjoyed them.

One of my dinner partners ordered the Spicy Tuna Roll ($12) for dinner and the reviews were mixed. While the roll is filled with a creamy, mayonnaise based (I’m guessing) concoction that is quite tasty, it is not spicy at all and you can hardly taste the tuna. On the other hand, the Eel Dragon, eel and avocado roll ($12) was exceptional and given very high marks.

We finished off the meal with some Blood Orange sorbet and Green Tea Gelato. If I had not been so full, I would have tried the Green Tea Cheesecake or the Bittersweet Chocolate Cake. Both sounded delicious.

Well, when it was time to pay the bill and take a final collective rating of Taka, the results were very positive. Our bill came out to about $40 per person including gratuity. Not cheap, especially since it is a BYOB, but we ordered a TON of food.
On a normal night, Peter and I would probably order one roll to split and then two entrees, so our bill would have been about $30 per person including gratuity.

The rating in stars from the group is 3 1/2 our of 5 stars. One of the guests commented that they believe Yumi in Sea Bright is better. I have not been there yet, so I can not make the comparison. I highly recommend Taka for a delightful night out. It has a winning combination of atmosphere and inventive and delicious food.

Taka
632 Mattison Avenue
Asbury Park, New Jersey
732-775-1020
Dinner
Tuesday – Sunday
Open at 5pm
Reservations Accepted

Creme de la Crepes in Fair Lawn

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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As soon as I heard about Creme de la Crepes from a friend, I was eager to try it. Crepe restaurants are rare in America, and especially rare in New Jersey. I’m from France and when I was growing up, eating out at a crepe restaurant was the ultimate treat, as common as eating at a great burger place is here. I didn’t expect to find completely traditional crepes at an American restaurant, but I still thought it would be a fun experience. I should have known better, especially considering that even the restaurant’s name had a typo (it should have been Creme de la Crepe).

We walked in to the cavernously empty restaurant with a cute Eiffel Tower theme (lamp posts, coat racks, and black and white pictures from different angles). A friendly waitress greeted us and gave us our menus. There were no traditional crepes in sight, no cheese, egg, or ham options. I decided to get with the program and let go of my sentimental focus on tradition. I ordered the French onion soup and the crepe la chateau (which should have been crepe le chateau) and my husband got the crepe poulet. The onion soup was fine, a bit bland, but perfectly acceptable. The crepe la chateau had a crepe as the base, but that was the last crepe like aspect of the concoction because it was topped by a mountain of mashed potatoes and a large patty of ground chicken and turkey with a creamy mushroom sauce. My husband’s crepe had the same mashed potato base but was topped with a pulled barbecue chicken. The mashed potatoes were buttery and perfectly textured but the meat and sauce were very average and were certainly not worth $20.


The real reason to come to Creme de La Crepes is for the dessert crepes. There is a huge dessert menu including the three basics: sugar and butter, jam, and nutella. They also offer more elaborate desserts including baked apple with caramel and ice cream, sweet mascarpone cheese with an assortment of berries, and honey, bananas and almonds. They also offer a large selection of teas and have an espresso and cappuccino machine.

Creme de la Crepes –
12-56 River Road, Fair Lawn, NJ (201) 791-0005

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Vanessa Druckman aka Chefdruck, is not a chef, as her online name suggests, just a huge food aficionado. She loves to cook and to eat out, and then to write about her experiences. Vanessa is a transplant from the big city and now resides in Northern NJ. She is half-French and spent a big part of her childhood in France, so as a result, there’s no fear of cream and butter for Chefdruck. Read more from Vanessa at: http://www.chefdruck.blogspot.com/ http://www.chefdruckwrites.blogspot.com/

Saving Time and Money, my New Year’s Resolution

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. I know myself too well. Creating new, healthy habits is not something I do well. I know I need to take vitamins and I faithfully take them for a week or so. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I just completely forget to take them and that will be that, healthy habit out the window. Same has been true with drinking the prescribed 8 glasses of water a day.

That being said, I am making a New Year’s resolution to plan a week’s worth of meals every week, grocery shop once maybe twice and that’s it. I know this is not new to many of you, but for me, this is like landing on the Moon. One small step for normal people, one giant leap for yours truly. I have never been a planner of any kind. Seriously, I am usually at the grocery store every day. My meals depend on my mood or the weather or some new recipe I stumble upon that day. In the past, I have tried to plan ahead and ended up throwing out an embarrassing amount of spoiled food because I just couldn’t stick to the plan.

So, to kick off “operation meal planning” I started with a little procrastinating research. I found an excellent article from OrganizedHome.com full of tips on how to plan meals and stick with the plan. The only problem I had was when the author recommends that you not “let your enthusiasm for the glossy pages of the cookbook con you into doing so more than twice a month. Cooking tried-and-true speeds dinner preparation and streamlines menu planning.”

What? Sorry, but how can I have a food blog and cook the same things over and over again? It will not make for a very interesting or informative website, so I will be ignoring this one recommendation. I’m sure you won’t mind.

So, where or how to start? The author says start small, no investing in fancy software to help you plan (damn, another chance at procrastination shot to hell) and start with your store circulars.

I admit to looking at the circulars every week, but I rarely if ever take the time to write a list. So, I decided to take a look at what the stores are offering online, and I was very impressed to find some helpful tools for meal planning. On Shoprite’s website you can browse the weekly circular and select sale items for your online shopping list. You can also type in additional items that you need and print the list. The great thing about their list is it includes the sale price. This is handy at the checkout counter if there’s a discrepancy between cash register and advertised price. (We know this never happens) Shoprite also offers an email option, so put your list together and email it to your spouse for pick up (in your dreams). Another cool feature is the links to “recipes” next to each item. You can locate the best sales for that week, click on recipes and you’ve got some meals planned for you. Yey! Foodtown.com has the exact same layout and in looking a little closer I noticed they are powered by the same third party provider MyWebGrocer.com.

Wegmans.com also offers an online list maker. I was surprised to find that they do not offer the ability to select items from their circular and add them to your shopping list. This is definitely a feature they need to add. Stop and Shop offers online list building off of their circular and you can even have it delivered by PeaPod (which I have had done and its absolutely awesome. ) If you do get your groceries delivered, be sure to order over $100 worth of groceries to save on the delivery charge. You can also find coupon codes online just by Googling “Peapod Coupon Code.”

So, that’s it so far. There’s no plan in place because I spent the whole day writing this post, but I have a plan for a plan in place. This weekend I will put together the official meal plan and post it for all who want to follow along. Let’s see how long I can keep this going. Any bets?


Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Last night I made a quick and easy hors d’oeuvre for our New Year’s Eve party. Since the last guests didn’t leave until after 2am, I am living a very lazy day on the couch. This recipe is perfect for the lazy cook, complete with the frozen meatballs from Costco.

The original recipe I had for this came from a friend of mine and it called for cooking the raw meatballs in the sauce. Since I have apparently lost that recipe, I went searching on the net for something similar. What I found were countless varieties of Sweet and Sour Meatballs. I chose one of the easiest recipes I found from cooks.com and it was really good. I ended up doubling the recipe below and used approximately a half bag of the frozen meatballs. I put everything in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. If you decide to make this in the oven, follow the heating instructions on the bag or if you’re making your meatballs follow the cooking instructions below.

1 bottle Heinz chili sauce
1 bottle of water (use chili sauce bottle)
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar (used 1/2 c. and it was plenty)
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 c. red wine (optional) I did not opt

Mix together ingredients for sweet & sour sauce in a sauce pan and simmer until well blended.

Pour sweet and sour sauce over meatballs. Bake 2 1/2 hours at 350 degrees turning meatballs every half hour.

Meatballs can be kept warm in a slow cooker or a crock pot.

This recipe also freezes well.

I couldn’t resist showing you this picture of my little helper in the kitchen over the past few days. He’s really showing an interest in cooking, which thrills his Mama. I just wish he would eat half the food we cook. The whole “they’ll eat what they help prepare” theory is a bunch of hooey.

Well, back to the couch and eating leftovers until I explode. Happy New Year Everyone.

Green Bean Casserole with Caramelized Onions

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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One of my favorite dishes to bring during the Holidays is this Green Bean Casserole. This recipe has nothing to do with cream of mushroom soup or French’s French Fried Onions. The original recipe I discovered a few years ago in Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

It’s not complicated, but it is a process. If you are doing the entertaining, I definitely recommend making this the day before. The original recipe called for fried shallots on top, but I am a huge fan of caramelized onions, so I made that one small adjustment. I start caramelizing the onions at the same time I begin the casserole. The onions take a while and require a stir now and then, so its easy to manage both at the same time, and they’re ready when you need them. You can find directions for caramelizing onions here.

INGREDIENTS

8 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus more for dish (2 reserved for caramelizing onions)
2 Medium Onions. 1 cut into 1/4 inch dice (about 6 ounces) the second sliced very thin for topping
1 Red Bell Pepper, ribs and seeds removed, flesh cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 pound Button Mushrooms, sliced or quartered
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk (I used Lactaid skim milk, and it works just fine)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of grated nutmeg
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

1. Melt 2 Tbs. butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Remove from heat. Let cool completely.

2. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Add beans; cook until bright green and just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain, and plunge into ice-water bath to stop cooking. Drain beans, and dry. Toss with mushroom mixture, set aside.

3. Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup flour; whisk constantly until mixture begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Pour in milk; continue whisking until mixture thickens, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in cayenne, nutmeg, and remaining tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Remove from heat; let cool completely, stirring occasionally. Pour over bean mixture, and toss.

4. Butter or spray a 13 X 9 inch baking dish. Spread half the bean mixture into dish. Sprinkle with half of the Parmesan (I tend to use a little less than 1 cup. Seems like a lot of Parm to me so use your own judgment here.) and then top with the remaining bean mixture. Combine remaining Parmesan with Bread Crumbs and sprinkle on top of casserole. Cover with foil, and refrigerate until ready to serve (up to 1 day); bring to room temperature before heating.

5. The original recipe says to place the casserole under the broiler until hot and bubbling (about 10 minutes). I have not found this very effective. Instead, I bake, covered, in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil at the very end to brown the top under the broiler. Cover with caramelized onions and keep warm until ready to serve.

We Have a Winner, Two Sisters Gourmet Salsa

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Happy Boxing Day Everyone,

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re not alone. There are several theories as to the origin of “Boxing Day” floating around the web and I am not going to presume to know which is correct. I think snopes explains the day and the many theories behind its origin the best.

Never-the-less, in the spirit of “Boxing Day” (giving without expecting anything in return, that is) we are awarding the Two Sisters Gourmet Salsa package to this week’s winner,

Jeanie

who said…

Wow, this looks great! What a welcome change from traditional holiday food!

Congratulation Jeanie, and please contact me with your mailing address.

We’re going to pick up our “Win It Wednedays” on January 7th, so stay tuned for some great giveaways in 09. Tomorrow I will be posting my absolute favorite Green Bean Casserole recipe, compliments of Martha Stewart. It’s a huge hit during the holidays and I’m sure will become a favorite in your house too. Enjoy your Boxing Day.

Win It Wednesday, On Friday. Gourmet Salsa Giveaway

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Hey Biters, Sorry about the tardiness of the Win It Wednesday post. I’ve been a little distracted this week by the Blogging Out Hunger campaign. The results are in and we’re very happy. We had over 120 participating blogs and raised close to $6000 in contributions on Monday. If you are considering making a donation, the Need is Now, so go to the FoodBank’s website and make a donation or bring a few bags of groceries to your local food pantry. For more information, you can click on the link above and view the video.

On to this week’s sponsor and terrific prize.

How about a “Salsa party?”

Who says you have to pick just one? Or two
for that matter. With this set you get all three
Two Sisters Gourmet salsas! Use them everyday to add
kick to your meals or some sass to a snack
black bean and corn salsa
mango peach salsa
spicy pepper salsa
and recipe cards to use with them.

Just leave a comment below with your contact information to enter. (A winner will be drawn next Wednesday, Dec. 24th. All entries must be in by Tuesday, December 23 at 11:59pm. Winner will be selected with the help of Random.org)

This week’s winner of Pepper Jelly Farm’s Organic Preserves is:

Lisa said…Congrats to the winners! The jelly looks great.

Lisa is a fellow food lover and blogger at Jersey Girl Cooks. Congratulations Lisa, I know you’ll do something creative with your winnings.

Lisa will be getting one of each variety (Apricot, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry Pomegranate, Red Raspberry, Strawberry, Tripleberry) of Pepper Jelly Farm’s all-natural and 100% Certified USDA Organic Preserves.

So remember, leave a comment below with your email address if you don’t link to a profile with an email addy. And, Best of Luck.

We Can’t Let This Bank Fail

Deborah Smith, Executive Editor
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Some things turn out as planned, and some, turn out even better. Last month when I casually tweeted a friend who works for Coyne Public Relations (the PR company who does pro bono work for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey) to tell her that I’d like to organize a blogging campaign to spread awareness about the FoodBank and their need for donations, I had no idea that in just a few short weeks, we’d have over 100 bloggers ready and willing to make this campaign a reality.

The folks at the FoodBank and Coyne PR have continually thanked me for my efforts. What they don’t know, is that I’m the one who should be thanking them. I know this sounds trite, but its very true. The eagerness of the bloggers I have contacted and the resulting posts that I have been reading and will be reading all day, has been so moving and inspiring. This has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me, and that, my friends, is what giving is all about.

The political bloggers have come together in a bi-partisan effort to reach their readers and urge them to make a difference. The Mommy Bloggers are relaying their messages to other concerned Moms. The Food bloggers are dishing their posts to food lovers all over New Jersey. We’ve got history blogs, music blogs, humor blogs, real estate blogs, community blogs and online news sites. Today, the blogosphere carries a lot of clout. The participants of this campaign are speaking personally to their loyal readers, their fans. This is a very powerful form of communication. I am hoping we are successful in compelling our readers to take action now!

I took action yesterday. My family and I made a trip to our local Shoprite with our list of items in hand for our donation to St. Gregory’s Pantry in Point Pleasant Beach. I was surprised and pleased to see a poster of Bruce outside the store with a list of suggested items for purchase to assist the “We Can’t Let This Bank Fail” campaign, very cool. The boyfriend, kids and I split up and quickly filled our list. When we arrived at St. Gregory’s it was a buzz with activity. High School students and seniors were carrying toys, skateboards and all kinds of donations as part of their “Toys for Infants through Teens” campaign.My boys got to see and feel for themselves what its like to be a part of an organized campaign to help children just like them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this one experience is going to change them for life, but it was a start and something I will need to keep encouraging and nurturing through my own involvement.

So, what can you do? It doesn’t get any easier, truly.

  1. Make a monetary contribution: Visit http://www.njfoodbank.org/.
  2. Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
  3. Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.
  4. Help “Check Out Hunger:” Look for the “Check Out Hunger” coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!

If I haven’t been compelling enough. If I have not convinced you that the need is real and desperate, please take a look at this video. There is no denying the empty shelves and the testimonies from employees who have never seen it so bad. And, please, visit some or all of the great blogs listed below. We also have some information on food drop off points below. Things seem to be coming in by the minutes, so I will be updating throughout the day. Hey, and if you’re a Fellow Tweet you can now Follow the FoodBank on Twitter.



Participating Bloggers for “We Can’t Let This Bank Fail” campaign
1) jerseybites.com
2) RedBankGreen.com
3) Jersey Girl Cooks
4) Simply Sable
5) John and Lisa are eating in South Jersey
6) Padma’s Kitchen
7) Chefdruck
8) Life Lightly Salted
9) My Italian Grandmother
10) Cook Appeal
11) Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars
12) Mommy Vents
13) This Full House
14) Paper Bridges
15) Motherhood Avenue
16) The Kamienski Chronicles
17) Down the Shore with Jen
18) Fits and Giggles
19) House Hubbies Home Cooking
20) Nourish Ourselves
21) Partybluprints.com
22) Tommyeats.com
23) Off the broiler
24) Mrs. Mo’s New Jersey Baby
25) IamNotaChef.com
26) SimplyBeer.com
27) HistoryGeek.com
28) Savy Source Newark
29) Momlogic New Jersey
30) SurvivingNJ.com/blog
31) SurvivingNJ.blogspot.com
32) JerseyGirlGuide.com
33) Best of Roxy
34) Citizen Mom.net
35) Lynetteradio.com
36) Jersey Beat
37) Pop Vulture Phil
38) JerseySmarts.com
39) LongBeachIslandSummers.com
40) WildwoodSummers.com
41) Mike Halfacres Blog
42) Somerset08873
43) Family, Friends and Food
44) KateSpot.com
45) NewJerseyMomsBlog.com
46) JCRegister.com
47) New Jersey Real Estate Report
48) Riverviewobserver.com
49) More Monmouth Musings
50) Man of Infirmity
51) Another Delco Guy in South Jersey
52) SweetNicks.com
53) Average Noone
54) Cleary’s Notebook
55) Welcome to my Planet
56) The Center of New Jersey Life
57) Sharon’s Food Blog
58) Morristown, Chatham, Summit, and Madison NJ Real Estate
59) Midtown Direct Real Estate News
60) New Jersey Real Estate
61) BlowUpRadio.com
62) LazlosDen.com
63) The Ridgewood Blog
64) Book a Week with Jen
65) Banannie
66) Cartoongoddess.com
67) Matawan Advocate
68) Take Back the Kitchen
69) The Joy of Toast
70) Route 55
71) Montclair Kids.com
72) SaveJersey
73) Stompbox
74) Joe the Blogger
75) Environmental Republican
76) Stacey Snacks
77) Subversive Garden
78) New Jersey Pathfinder
79) Cooking With Friends Blog
80) Triple Venti
81) Read All About It
82) Rich Lee on Media
83) Likelihood of Success
84) Cape Cuisine
85) The Business At Hand
86) NewJerseyTaxRevolution
87) Figmentations
88) MiddletownMike
89) Caviar and Codfish
90) A Day in the Life
91) Mack’s Journey Through Life
92) Alice’s Restaurant
93) Tiger Hawk
94)Politics Patrol, The Bob Ingle Blog
95) The Food Chain
96) Henson’s Hell
97) Cranbury Conservative
98) Baristanet
99) New Jersey: Politics Unusual
100) Jersey Shore Blog
101) Plainfield Today
102) Beacon Bulletin
103) Journal Square Jersey City 07306
104) Blogging Chris
105) One Aimless Writer
106) Sidewalk Politics
107) In The Lobby
108) The Cooks Tour
109) Morristown Pedal Pushers
110) NJ.com: Morristown Green
111) A-Musings
112) Fortunate Fool
113) Sid in the City
114) Tanya Dennis
115) K8et’s Ramblings
116) Goodies For Mom
117) A Food Coma
118) Parkway Reststop
119) The Kids Are Alright
120) All Lost In the Supermarket
121) Fausta’s Blog
122) Fred’s Fun Forum

Area Drop Off Points for Non-perishable goods:

Downs Ford
360 Hwy 37 East
Toms River, NJ 08753

The Cape May County Herald has become a drop off location for the New Jersey Food Bank and has promised a yummy goodie suprise from the shore to a random child that emails a picture of their collection and themselves on day of donation.

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