Are you here to enter to win the giveaway? Just leave a comment on this post, below.

Not quite on a Le Crueset budget but just so over combing the aisles of TJ Maxx for cheap cookware that inevitably flakes and burns? It’s time to break up with Teflon.

Make like Julia Child and get yourself a cast of (enameled iron) characters sure to make your culinary adventures more successful for years to come. Allow me to introduce a very chic – and 100% green – chef-worthy cooking set, complete with the cutest darn Dutch Oven I’ve ever seen. The whole set is affordably priced – especially if you’re looking for lifetime cookware you don’t have to replace every third crepe attempt – but what I love most is that juicy little apple Dutch Oven. That red is red.

Julie knew what she was talking about: nothing cooks, grills, bakes, braises, sweats and sears like enamel cast iron. And you know how wonderful it feels in hand: substantial, forever, legit. It’s not going anywhere no matter how many times you scrape, scrub or scratch it.

The apple, however, is: we’re giving one away this week to one of you lucky commenters, so tell us what dish you’d whip up, and you may just win.

Can’t wait? I have been loving this piece so much, and think you will too, so I asked our pals at VivaTerra to offer a special, serious discount just for you. We’re not talking some puny 5% off promotion, either. Nope, just cold, hard cash! This versatile oven goes for $129 but if you click to buy and use the promo code APPLE, you’ll get $25 off, instantly. You’ll notice the promotion on the site for the next week, and if you think it’s a cool deal, let us know!

As for me, you can find me spoon-deep in the garlicky buttered mashed potatoes, curried sweet potatoes, roasted rosemary stuffing, minted couscous salad, claypot ginger chicken, wait…where was I?

Leave a comment here to win. One comment per person, and this giveaway ends next week (Wednesday, August 25th, 2010) at midnight. Good luck!

(Official obligatory rule part: you can check out our sponsored giveaway, contest, legalese FTC compliance stuff here.)

The post A Giveaway and a Steal of a Deal: So Long Teflon, Hello Cute appeared first on EcoSalon.

Besides being impossibly adorable, this painted enamel adaptation of the Asian field worker’s tacked lunch box is the ideal container for a dieter on the go.

I received one as a gift from my boss over a cup of Joe and a lesson on social networking. She said, “Here, take this and have fun with it. Maybe your kids can use it.”

Maybe, not! I’m not about to let them have another cool gift of mine so they can abandon it on the blacktop, allowing the contents to rot over the course of several months or convert it into a Barbie submarine bath toy.

Noooo. I’m going to pack healthy snacks in the tiered compartments because every dieter knows, failing to plan is planning to fail. If you don’t have those chopped organic veggies and fruits handy, you reach for the so-called protein bars (a.k.a. candy) or bagels (six points).

I know this sounds a bit crazy (’cause I am) but I even take it downstairs into the basement with me while I write so that I can keep nose to keyboard and not have to flee every time I get a craving for a chunk of jicama. I’ve also taken it with me when I have to drive a distance and get lots of looks from people who see me toting it. “That lady is stacked,” they’re thinking, and I like the fact they envy what I got on me, you know what I mean?

The best news is my bento is yet another way to eliminate throw-away bags and plastic and is awfully stylish compared to many of the reusable lunch containers made for work and school. It doesn’t leak and is dishwasher safe, too, for those who are sticklers about sanitation – and you should be.

And guess what? VivaTerra is even offering to give away this ultra-cool lunch box for you EcoSalon readers. Just post a comment on how you think you would use it to be entered to win one of your own!

The post A Bento a Day appeared first on EcoSalon.