One of the reasons I love being an AllStar!

I decided I needed to give a little "shout-out" to Barilla. Last month, I worked with them as a sponsor through the AllRecipes AllStars program (see my Barilla recipe posts here and here, and find the entire Barilla collection on AllRecipes here), and when they sent the information for our assignment they included the insulated lunch bag pictured above. When I first saw it, I thought it was a purse and I shook my head and said out loud "Who would USE that?!!" Well, duh, it wasn't a purse - and as to who would use it, that would be ME! I just switched over to using this one as my daily lunch bag and I cannot believe how much I can fit in it, how easily it stretches to accommodate weird shapes / sized containers, and what good quality it seems to be.

You can see just how much it can hold in the pictures above; my breakfast / lunch / snacks on Tuesday was applesauce, yogurt, cherry tomatoes, ranch dressing, leftover marsala chicken, and a Lunchables and today I fit in a larger container of the rest of the leftover marsala chicken, yogurt, applesauce, celery sticks, a luna bar, and a peanut butter banana roll-up! It wasn't even a tight fit. I LOVE THIS BAG!!

So, thank you Barilla - this is honestly probably my favorite "goodie" I've received yet, and I will use it pretty much every day. Being an AllStar is so much fun - the swag is of course just a very nice little bonus, but it is amazing (with how much I love being in the kitchen) how much good use I get out of the gifts I've been sent. The Bison Council sent a gorgeous cutting board, Johnsonville sent an awesome muffin tin and egg whisk, and AllRecipes has sent numerous things over the years, including an apron, 2 lunch bags (that both got so worn out I finally tossed them a few months ago), a timer, and a cellphone stand. The best part of the program is getting the chance to be connected with so many others who are equally as passionate about food and family, and getting exposed to new brands and recipes. Such a fantastic program - I really love it, and if you think this sounds like something you would enjoy too I definitely encourage you to click the link above and check it out!