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Archive for the ‘Sweets & Treats’ Category

Be My Organic Valentine

Posted in Sweets & Treats, tagged , , on February 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

This Valentine’s Day, don’t ignore the Organic Elitist palette.  While a box of Godiva chocolates is the romantic cliché, an organically-inclined significant other might appreciate a more thoughtful box of love.

Green & Black’s organic chocolate is always my number-one recommendation, but unfortunately the UK-based chocolatier only sells its gift boxes abroad.  I suppose one could wrap a bar of chocolate with red ribbon, but that would be rather boring.  Instead, go with a worthy alternative such as Terra Nostra which sells mouthwatering truffles.  Its box is plain, but it offers the traditional Valentine’s chocolate bites.  For something with a little more presentation, Dagoba sells a 16-piece box of Tasting Square Favors.  Both of these options can be purchased online or at your local health food store.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Indulge responsibly.

chocolate-hearts

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The Not-So-Secret Life of Bees

Posted in Sweets & Treats, tagged , , , on January 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

I have never been stung.  When I see a bee within ten feet of me, I panic.  Yet despite my fear of stingers, I know that the black and yellow insects are hard at work making the best natural sweetener on Earth: honey. 

The busy bees’ creation is more than just sticky and sweet, it can calm a sore throat or a stomach ache and it is a healthy way to get a boost of energy.  Honey has also been found to restore damaged skin and speed up the healing process of a cut or wound.

As always, the real stuff is the best stuff.  Organic raw honey that is made locally contains properties from the environment that can help boost your immune system accordingly.  The local pollen found in local honey also protects against allergies.  In general, local or not, organic raw honey will offer the best health benefits compared to other forms of the substance.

 Really Raw Honey

To purchase local honey, visit your nearby farmer’s market or check your local health food store.  If you can not purchase local honey, an excellent product that can be found in some health food stores is Really Raw Honey.  Taken from hives in upstate New York, both its taste and quality are superb.

So, thanks to the bees for a creation that is sweeter than sugar and packing health benefits.  And a special thanks to the beekeepers for braving bee stings in order to package the ultimate Organic Elitist treat.

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Little Bear, Big Taste

Posted in Sweets & Treats, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2009 | 1 Comment »

When you hear the words “Little Bear” you might think of a stuffed animal or those adorable plastic bear honey containers.  I think of Little Bear/Bearitos, the maker of delicious all natural snacks including my favorite chips.

Bearitos All Natural Tortilla Chips are perfectly crunchy with just the right touch of salt, and more flavor than your average tortilla chip.  The chips are even cooked and packed the same day as the organic corn is ground to ensure its exceptional taste.  Ingredients are also limited to organic yellow corn, expeller pressed natural canola oil, natural sunflower oil, safflower, and sea salt.  This list of ingredients is more than 20 items shorter than the usual non-natural, non-organic chips.  With that, Bearitos certainly lives up to The Organic Elitist saying “the fewer ingredients, the better.”

Bearitos All Natural Tortilla Chips

Fewer ingredients of higher quality don’t just make the Little Bear’s chips taste better, it makes them healthier.  The all natural snack has more desirable nutrition facts than typical tortilla chips do.  To further illustrate this point, let’s compare The Organic Elitist chip choice to Doritos Cooler Ranch, assuming a serving size of 12 chips.  While Doritos have 140 calories with 63 of those calories from fat, Bearitos have only 112 calories with 40 calories from fat.  Doritos also have a total fat content of 7 grams and sodium content of 170 milograms.  By contrast, the all natural chips have only 5 grams of fat and 44 milograms of sodium – 126 mg less than its conventional counterpart.

Better taste, better ingredients, better nutrition facts.  What’s not to love?  Crunch away.

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Move Over Ben & Jerry’s

Posted in Sweets & Treats, tagged , on December 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

Green & Black’s, the maker of my favorite chocolate bar, now holds my heart in ice cream as well.  Yes, ice cream.  Specifically, chocolate ice cream (quite shocking, I know).  It tastes as if their chocolate bars were magically transformed into rich, full, creamy, and heavenly ice cream.  I guess in some ways that is what they did since their organic dark chocolate is an ingredient.  I actually find the ice cream so utterly delicious and wonderfully intense that I can not handle more than one-scoop – if that! – as a serving.

greenandblacksicecream-7588431

White Chocolate with Strawberries is another flavor, also made with their signature chocolate in addition to organic strawberry sauce.  And for you vanilla lovers, their Vanilla ice cream, which doesn’t contain chocolate, is made with real organic vanilla beans.  Yum.

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A Minute On Your Lips, Yet Not Forever On Your Hips

Posted in Sweets & Treats, tagged , on December 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

I love chocolate.  And when the chocolate cravings kick in, I am at their mercy.  Unfortunately for my figure, the scale reflects my chocolate splurges, leaving me with feelings of resentment toward my sweet tooth.  But that was before I became an Organic Elitist.

Hershey Kisses and M&Ms were not my friends, but now I enjoy organic chocolate, satisfying my cravings without regret.  True, chocolate is chocolate, and calorie and fat content are high, organic or not.  Yet organic chocolate is free of man-made products that our bodies are not built to digest.  The organic kind is simply friendlier and easier for us to process, making it possible to eat an appropriate amount of chocolate without the negative results.  So, while being a chocoholic is still no one’s first choice, you and your body will be a lot happier if you eat the real thing.

greenblacks

There are many organic chocolate bars available at most health food stores and even some classic supermarkets.  In choosing your favorite, remember: the fewer ingredients, the better.  From that standpoint, I enthusiastically recommend Green & Black’s and Terra Nostra.  Green & Black’s started in the UK nearly 20 years ago, producing delicious bittersweet chocolate from organic cocoa beans.  Today, they make bars of white, milk, and dark chocolate in several flavors, with cocoa content ranging from 30% to 85%.  G&B also individually wraps chocolate bits for easy sharing in addition to making hot chocolate and ice cream.  Terra Nostra has been around for 10 years and their chocolate bars contain 73% cocoa content. They offer nine flavors, including intense dark and satin milk truffle.  If you’re more of a bite-size snacker, they also pack their ingredients into tasty truffles.

terranostra

My personal favorite is Green & Black’s dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids.  It is satisfying and sweet with just the right hint of bitterness that you expect from a high cocoa content.  If you go Green & Black’s, you’ll never go back.  Say goodbye to processed sugar and hello to true goodness.

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