March, 2010
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Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
The Eat Clean Cookbook by Tosca Reno is full of healthful, delicious recipes. I enjoyed making many recipes in this cookbook, but there is one I return to again and again: Corn Muffins. (Often I make it as cornbread in a loaf pan.) Maybe it’s because I’m married to a southerner, but in our house, you can never have too much cornbread around.
Super Simple Corn Muffins by Tosca Reno
Dry Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cups / 320 ml whole-wheat flour
1 1/3 cups / 320 ml cornmeal
1/3 cup / 80 ml skim milk powder
2 Tbsp / 30 ml Sucanat or rapadura sugar
2 tsp / 10 ml baking powder
2 tsp / 10 ml baking soda
1 tsp / 5 ml finely ground sea salt
Wet Ingredients:
½ cup / 120 ml unsweetened applesauce
2 cups / 480 ml skim milk, soured with 2 Tbsp / 30 ml lemon juice
2 Tbsp / 30 ml coconut oil, canola oil or melted butter
4 egg whites, beaten
1. Preheat oven to 425°F / 220°C. Line a muffin tin with unbleached paper liners.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Place wet ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix together well.
4. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix.
5. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until just golden on top.
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A cool thing about this cookbook is that Tosca Reno has some signature ingredient blends that she incorporates into several recipes. Power Flour, for example, is a combination of various flours that can be used in place of regular or whole-wheat flours. She also has a recipe for Eat Clean Cooking Spray to use in place of PAM or the like.
Thanks to Rechelle for sending me a review copy of this cookbook. I’ll be using it for years to come.
Posted in Book Club, Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks | 1 Response »
Tags: cookbook, corn, cornbread, muffins, power flour, Tosca Reno
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
VivAgave is a soluble fiber derived from the organic blue agave plant. Add a tablespoon added in yogurt, oatmeal, milk, coffee or even mac n’ cheese and you’ve upped your fiber intake 40% of the recommended daily intake–in 40 calories.
VivAgave is available in 3 varieties: plain, vanilla and cocoa. The flavor of both the plain and vanilla is very subtle (nearly tasteless, really), though the vanilla had a delicious scent. I didn’t try to cocoa so I’m not sure about that one.
With agave’s connection to the sweet and syrupy agave nectar, I was expecting this to be sweet. It’s not. Which is fine, but don’t add it to a recipe as a sugar substitute or you’ll wonder why that banana bread tastes really different. 
You can, however, add it as an addition to said banana bread recipe for a healthy fiber boost.
Among other selling points of the product, it’s a Prebiotic can be used to aid in the growth of “good” intestinal bacteria, it has a minimal impact on blood sugar and will not raise triglycerides, and inulin helps the body absorb calcium and magnesium.
Thanks to Isabella for sending me some to sample!
Posted in Products | No Responses »
Tags: agave, cocoa, fiber, inulin, organic, plain, vanilla, VivAgave
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Organics are for Everyone’s Date Syrup is a delicious syrup made from dates. Organic dates and…. nothing else.
How is it so smooth and luxurious and sweetly complex? Truly, it’s nature’s candy.
Better than candy, it also nutritious with all of the vitamins and minerals of dates.
Here are my top 3 uses:
1. Drizzled over plain yogurt or plain greek yogurt.
2. Poured over pancakes with sliced almonds and shredded coconut.
3. Whipped with tahini (sesame seed paste) and spread over rye (or other whole grain) bread.
Check it out, buy some, no regrets. Organic date syrup is for everyone!
My first jar was free but now I will be a loyal, paying customer. Thanks for spreading the gospel.
Posted in Products | No Responses »
Tags: almonds, coconut, dates, greek yogurt, organic, pancakes, syrup, tahini, yogurt
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Reusable shopping bags were all the rage a few years ago, and a lot of us accumulated quite a few of them.
My mom gave us some for Christmas, Whole Foods gave me one on Earth Day, an artist with a day job at Scoop gave me one outside of their store in SoHo.
Saturation of the market aside, I was really excited when Sue from what’Surbag offered to send me a couple of their bags. They’ve carved a niche as the only FASHIONABLE, FLEXIBLE & SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE reusable shopping bag. (what’Surbag and its-laS-tik extend their creativity into spelling and capitalization as well!)
The bags come in a dazzling array of solids, metallics and patterns. They are manufactured in New Orleans in a factory destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and rebuilt by survivors. 5% of sales of these bags are donated to NOLA’s Hope House.
I really love using these bags. They’re more durable than my giveaways and more flexible than the Christmas gift (but still love those, Mom!). Sue told me that she created the graffiti style with New Yorkers in mind. The other I have is a silver metallic (“skyline“) that has gotten compliments as my purse!
I would recommend these bags especially for city dwellers who walk home from stores since they bounce a bit as you walk which lightens the load. I’d also recommend them for anyone looking for a more chic and durable reusable bag who appreciates helping out a good cause in the process.
Posted in Products | No Responses »
Tags: bags, fashionable, graffiti, its-laS-tik, metallic, New Orleans, reusable, shopping
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
With a picture like this, words seem inadequate by comparison. Still, I’ll try. The Republic of Tea has a beautiful and tasty new line of Hibiscus Superflower teas. Made from Nigerian hibiscus flowers, these herbal teas are rich in Vitamin C and minerals and are caffeine-free.
There are five flavors: natural hibiscus, blueberry, key lime, vanilla apple, and pineapple lychee.
I was lucky enough to be sent a sample of the blueberry by the kind folks at The Republic of Tea. (How could you work at a place like that and not be a kind and lovely person?)
I was delighted upon brewing my first cup to see that the color is a beautiful redish-purple. The taste is very refreshing: a bit fruity, a bit sweet, a bit tart. I’ve been enjoying it hot but as of today- hallelujah, warm weather in NYC!- I just tried some iced. I am going to be drinking a lot of this come summer and I’m eager to try the other flavors.
Posted in Products | No Responses »
Tags: blueberry, caffeine free, herbal, herbs, hibiscus, iced tea, minerals, Nigeria, superflower, Tea, The Republic of Tea, vitamin c
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Ready to be Tempt-ed by some great, healthy products? Tempt is a line of delicious non-dairy “milks” and “ice creams” made from hemp seeds. Jennifer from Living Harvest Foods was kind enough to send me a couple of coupons.
Unsweetened Vanilla Tempt Hempmilk is a delicious low-calorie beverage (60 calories in 1 cup) while also being a convenient source of healthy fats (6 grams of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat in 1 cup) that come naturally from hemp seeds.
With my other coupon I purchased the Coffee Biscotti flavor from Tempt’s frozen dessert lineup (of which there are many tantalizing flavors). I absolutely fell in love with this. Not only do I love coffee ice cream (old school Coffee Toffee by Ben & Jerry’s, anyone?) but this has chocolatey cookie chunks a great mouth feel (thanks to those natural fats from hemp seeds). Still, just 140 calories per 1/2 cup serving.
If you’ve ever tried a hempmilk-based product, I’d love to hear about it; comment below!
Posted in Products | 4 Responses »
Tags: biscotti, Coffee, dessert, fats, frozen, frozen dessert, healthy fats, hemp seeds, hempmilk, ice cream
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Olivia’s Crutons is a lovely family-based company that churns out some seriously delicious crutons.
I tried the Butter and Garlic flavor which is what first brought Olivia’s fame.
In the gourmet food product world, a Sofi Award of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) is the gold standard. See that little Oscar-looking guy in the corner of the photo above? Yeah, Oliva’s got a Sofi Award.
But back to how good these crutons are: they’re large, buttery, fresh, and perfectly crunchy (no threat of molar chippage). They are made from organic ingredients and not many of them: pretty much just bread, butter and herbs. No preservatives.
Perfect on salads or just out of the box. (Did I just admit that? :/ )
Thanks to Phil and Alex for arranging the sample. Check out Olivia’s website for recipes and the touching company story.
Posted in Products | No Responses »
Tags: butter, crutons, garlic, NASFT, salad, Sofi Award
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Organic, Shaken and Stirred: Hip Highballs, Modern Martinis and Other Totally Green Cocktails is an awesome new collection of recipes by Paul Abercrombie, published by Harvard Common Press.
I had the pleasure of being asked to look at a copy of the book and give my take here on Smorgasbite- thanks Paul!
I enjoyed sampling several of the cocktail recipes -delicious- and I enjoyed drooling over the rest. The photography is exquisite and the ingredients- muddled blackberries, fresh mint, crystalized ginger- are, shall we say, top shelf. That said, not too many of the recipes can be made with ingredients just lying around the house (save you tropical island dwellers, perhaps) so it pays to plan and shop accordingly. Meanwhile, while the book calls for organic spirits (rum, tequila, etc) – regular will do.
I’m happy to be able to share with you a recipe.
Coming in Hot!
2 organic strawberries, hulled
4 slivers peeled and seeded organic jalapeno chile
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed organic lemon juice
1.5 ounces organic repasado tequila
1/2 ounce organic agave nectar
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the strawberries, 3 of the jalapeno slivers, and the lemon juice until well mashed. Add the tequila and agave nectar, and fill the shaker with ice cubes. Shake vigorously, then strain the mixture into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the remaining jalapeno sliver.
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Lastly, Paul writes a great blog about all things cocktail at, you guessed it, organicshakenandstirred.com
Posted in Beverages, Book Club, Happy Hour, Recipes | 3 Responses »
Tags: agave nectar, alcohol, blackberries, cocktails, ginger, jalapeno, mint, tequila
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Living Fuel makes a line of products that have a crazy amount of nutritious things in them.
Living Fuel products contain the most potent, bioavailable, and highest quality nutritional ingredients including freeze-dried organic fruits and vegetables that are rich, natural sources of antioxidants. The harmonious blend of these active ingredients provides diverse and balanced antioxidant protection – more so than other popular antioxidants.
I had a chance to try two of them (thanks to a nice offer from Beth) and I’m feeling all of the healthier for it.
SuperBerry Ultimate is a purplish powder that can be combined with water, juice, or milk, or mixed into a smoothie. I tried mine two ways: with water and mixed into a smoothie with banana and blueberries. I liked it both ways (the fruit compounds make the powder relatively sweet itself) but I would say that the smoothie was my preference.
CocoChia Snack Bars are sweet bars combined mostly of coconut, chia seeds and almond butter. I thought it was really tasty and definitely different than most other bars. This bar reminded me of an Almond Joy candy bar.
Check out the Living Fuel website for more information on their products including ingredient lists, nutrition facts and recipe videos.
Posted in Products | No Responses »
Tags: almond butter, almonds, antioxidants, chia seeds, coconut, fruits, powder, smoothies, Vegetables
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
From the makers of the ever-popular Sugar in the Raw (above right) comes a new product: Stevia in the Raw. Stevia is a sweetening agent that is not an artificial sweetener but also not sugar. More specifically,
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is an herb in the compositae family that grows as a small shrub in parts of Paraguay and Brazil. The glycosides in its leaves make it incredibly sweet, a property that is unique among the nearly 300 species of stevia plants. Stevia has been used to sweeten beverages and medicines for over 400 years.
In addition to single-serving packets (above left), Stevia in the Raw is available in Cup for Cup Bakers’ Bags. Terri was kind enough to send me a Bakers’ Bag to try. It’s in a large, plastic bag with a resealable zip top. Looking at it, you’d think it weighed five pounds (which is its sweetening power equivalent to sugar). But, it only weighs 9.7 ounces. The powder feels nearly weightless and it quite dusty.
I tried it in several different foods and drinks and it seems that experimentation according to your own likes and dislikes is key. I did not enjoy it in hot coffee while I did enjoy it in hot tea. I did not enjoy it in plain yogurt but I did enjoy it in baked cornbread and refrigerator pickles. I am still planning to try the cheesecake recipe from the back of the bag which sounds promising.
Stevia in the Raw’s website has a plethora of recipes, including the cheesecake. It also has a section of tips which, um, I should read now since it may explain why some of my experimental uses were less successful than others.
Posted in Products | 1 Response »
Tags: baking, Stevia, sugar, sweetener
