Samples provided for review. This post contains an Amazon Associates link.

Ever read a book that changes your life?

I did, and mine was about dumplings.

The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken is a memoir by food writer Laura Schenone, who decides one Christmas to make an authentic family ravioli recipe. When she finds an ingredient on her grandmother’s recipe card that seems out of place — where in northern Italy would you find Philadelphia cream cheese? — she begins a search that makes her learn more about dumplings, Italian cooking, and her own family than she ever thought possible. It’s a really well-written food history that’s also a family history, that’s stayed with me for several years..

There’s one passage in particular where she talks about all the countries that have their own dumplings, and how universally loved they are: no matter what country you’re in, they taste like home, and like love. After all, dumplings are tricky to make, and take time and care to prepare. Dumplings are a special-occasion food.

Having lived in Ukraine and South Korea, I have tried many different kinds of dumplings, each delicious in their own way. When Bibigo offered to send me samples of their dumplings — ready-made Korean food for a Western audience — I wanted to see how their potstickers compared with the mandu I remembered from street vendors in Korea.

Unlike the dumplings I had in Korea — which were usually filled with things like kimchi, rice noodles, meat, ginger, and green onions — these were adapted to Western tastes. They come in Pork and Vegetable, Chicken and Vegetable, Chicken and Cilantro, and BBQ Chicken flavors.

Despite the difference in fillings, seeing the charming little dumpling shapes took me back nearly a decade, to my travels through Asia.

The potstickers and wontons are fully cooked, can be found in the frozen food section of select supermarkets, and are ridiculously easy to prepare: just microwave, boil, or fry them for less than 10 minutes. Here are some potstickers I microwaved for a quick lunch, with a side of dipping sauce.

If you want to get a bit more greens with your dumplings, try adding chopped scallions, along with Sriracha and oyster sauce, for additional flavor. You could also serve them with a side of fried garlic and bok choy in soy sauce, to get your vegetables.

However you prepare them, Bibigo wontons and potstickers are delicious, filling, and easy to cook — all the taste of a special treat, without all the fuss and hard work. I highly recommend them!

Look for Bibigo products in select supermarkets — and at your local Asian market. You can also follow them on Facebook and YouTube!

This post about lunchtime solutions is sponsored by SocialMoms and Tai Pei. Quick meals have always been a point of major interest to me, and it’s even more crucial now that Jai and I are a few months off our diet plan. The challenge of maintaining progress for us is finding the time to prepare foods in advance that can be easily grabbed and eaten – and aren’t high in calories. It’s been a big challenge, primarily because of how chaotic the last few months have been. I knew that 2013 would be a pivotal year of changes for me, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the last few months have been the busiest in my life. Keeping up with cooking has felt like an impossible task – I know I can’t keep this pace up, so I’m doing what I can to prioritize and figure out the most realistic way to map out my schedule going forward. In the meantime, I have a ton of work built up this week since I’ve been out of town, but fortunately I have some easy solutions from Tai Pei to get me through the last few crazy days of October!

Tai Pei make frozen entrees packaged in a cute little takeout-style box – but at around 300-400 calories per box, it is most likely a lower-calorie option than what I would order at my favorite restaurant! I received several coupons to taste-test these meals, and there are lots of flavors to choose from – I decided on Sweet & Sour Chicken, Orange Chicken, and Chicken Fried Rice from the standard line, as well as Spicy General Tso’s Chicken from the new Tai Pei Asian Garden line, which is their new line of entrees which are lower in calories and high in fiber. Since I’ve been eating my way through Chicago the last few days, I figured I’d start by heating up this one for lunch first! 😉

These boxes are unique in that you do not remove the plastic wrap before microwaving them. I only noticed this after I had automatically started peeling it off, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to negatively impact how my lunch cooked. All you have to do is slap the box in the microwave for 5 minutes, let it sit for 3, and then eat. You don’t even need a plate, although I used one for this photo just because that’s what us food bloggers do:

Normally, you’d just eat these right out of the cardboard container; can you say “Perfect” for overloaded days?! No cooking, no cleaning! There is “Good Fortune in Every Box”, including a scannable QR code fortune cookie on the side – cute! I thought this made for a tasty and filling lunch. When they say “Spicy”, they really mean it – I was guzzling water all through my lunch, which is good, because I need to drink more water! 😉 This was such an easy solution and I’m so happy to have a few more boxes in the freezer to get me through the rest of this hectic week!

Want to save some cash as well as time? Click here to print off a “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon for any Tai Pei entree or appetizer! And be sure to “Like” Tai Pei on Facebook for more info:

This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Tai Pei® blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.

When I attended the PDX Tapas Competition in August, I was introduced to a delicious snack bar called Goodness Knows. I loved what I tried, so I was pleased to receive a few boxes in the mail of all 3 varieties to try out and share. I was already familiar with the Very Cranberry flavor from the event, and also received samples of their Nutty Apple and Peachy Cherry varieties.

These snack squares blend ingredients like oats, nuts and dried fruit with a dark chocolate base. It’s almost like a “Healthified” version of a Flapjack! They are super tasty – each bar contains 4 small snack squares, so they’re the perfect size to tuck in sack lunches or eat in between meals. We even tossed a box in the car during some of our long drives last month! Jai said his absolute favorite was the apple flavor – I still think cranberry might be my pick, if only because that’s the first one I tried so it’s a good taste association!

At the moment, Goodness Knows is only available in select markets – us Pacific Northwesters can pick them up in Portland and Seattle, and they can also be found in Dallas and Denver. But if you’re not in one of these areas, don’t fret – you can also order them online!

Have you gotten a chance to try Goodness Knows yet?