My favorite new (bite-sized) chocolate

I am such a chocolate person that I don’t understand how vanilla people exist.  Vanilla is a mistake. I like chocolate in all its forms though it’s probably no surprise I lean toward dark chocolate now. I’m not hardcore with the percentages; 85% is still too intense for my liking. However, sometimes dark chocolate that’s less than 70% is too sweet and too easy to overdo (the lower the percentage the higher the sugar). I tend to like a little flavor excitement with my chocolate. Mint, some spice, salt or even oddball flavors do it for me. I even fall for superfoods in my chocolate: matcha chocolate, reishi mushroom chocolate etc.

I found a new company that checks all my chocolate boxes.

Zenbunni, made in Venice California, isn’t just chocolate that I love; it’s chocolate made with love. Their mini or “microcosmic” bars contain organic, wild and foraged ingredients.

My two favorites for now are:

Lost Salt of Atlantis and Shiva Rose

We have a sweet giveaway and an assortment of Zenbunni minis coming your way provided you swear you’ve never chosen vanilla over chocolate. We also have a "bundle of love" with three terrific new sweets in the Foodtrainers' store.

Are you a chocolate person? What’s your favorite chocolate? Do you like your chocolate straight up or jazzed up?

To be Eligible

Tweet: The best chocolate in the world? @Foodtrainers has a @zenbunni #giveaway http://foodtrainers.blogspot.com/2016/02/my-favorite-new-bite-sized-chocolat.html 

and

Comment below

*Enter by midnight on Valentines Day

Get chippy with it (I’m really dating myself)

I wrote a Super Bowl (or super snack post) for Fitbit. If you’re curious about creative crudité, the world’s best guac or the secret to game day weight control (nobody, right?) check it out.

Today, I wanted to be a little more snack centric and talk chips.

Here are Foodtrainers' top 5 ways to “get chippy”

Popcorn gives you so much more snacking leeway than chips (3 cups versus 10-15 chips). Two favorites here are Kettle Brand Sriracha or Quinn’s new ”farm to bag” popcorn in coconut oil (kale and sea salt a runner up)

Carolyn and I were swooning over Seasnax Chompers when we tasted them at a fall trade show. Crunchy, salty and of course with that nutritious nori.

Foodtrainees love these ParsnipChips, we cannot wait for our Ranch “Dipperz” with broccoli and cauliflower to arrive. And don’t forget their Brussels Bytes.

And finally, I love a lime chip. Something about the flavor- does it for me every time. I bought these “for the kids” and this big kid really likes them. In New York, they’re on Fresh Direct. They’re organic and gluten free as well.

How do you like to get chippy? What about Will Smith, a fan? Loved him back in the Fresh Prince days, now?...

Bone Broth: Yay or Step Away?

Yesterday I spoke to CBS about bone broth (segment airs Christmas week); Carolyn is going to “break” things down for us today.

Bone broth is the new “hot” beverage (literally) of the season. Truth be told it’s not really new but newly popular thank in part to paleo peeps and GAPS diet. It’s gaining a cult following similar to kombucha. But let’s get to the “bare bones” if you will… bone broth, yay or stay away?

What is bone broth?

As the name implies bone broth is made from chicken, beef or fish bones slowly cooked for 12 or more hours. While the thought of slurping on bone leftovers might make you lose your appetite, it’s not that different from regular old chicken stock. The main difference is that store-bought stock is cooked at high temperature for a short amount of time. Stock is about flavor and not about extracting goodness from the bones.

So, why bones?

Bones are nutritional powerhouses. During cooking, collagen from the bone breaks down into gelatin and this is where the goodness comes from. It’s a super rich source of minerals including calcium and amino acids. Also present are glucosamine and chondroitin names you may recognize from commonly used joint supplements. Whether you are arthritic or just achy from exercise, bone broth can help. Gelatin also benefits our skin, digestive tract and immune system.

How do you make bone broth?

You can heat broth and put in thermos, nuking not suggested

Confession, we don’t (or haven’t yet). You can use leftover bones from roasting a chicken etc. but we’d suggesting asking your butcher for marrow or soup bones (we hear chicken feet are great), you need a couple pounds of bones.  You place bones in a pot or slow cooker, cover with water, add apple cider vinegar which helps extract nutrients from bone and onions, garlic and any flavorings. Be careful to simmer and not boil the broth and then wait and wait. This is at least a 12-hour process (and we thought highlights were time consuming). When you’re done cooking you’ll strain and chill the broth (you can freeze some in jars). They key to this is that the result should resemble brown J-e-l-l-o (vom). Bone broth is not a looker.

Or, you can buy bone broth

Perfect on a cold day

If you’re like us, you can buy bone broth at Brodo (Lauren suggests chili oil and fresh turmeric “toppings”) on the LES or Bone Deep and Harmony. Rumor has it Hudson & Charles in the west village is brothing too as are our friends at Food Matters. There are also online retailers. Sally Fallon has a new broth cookbook that was sold out on Amazon the last I checked (but available at B &N). Pacific foods have also joined the bone broth brigade but we’re not sure how we feel about this yet.

Children of nutritionists must try bone broth (he loved it, stole his mother's)

Any downside or concerns?

The haters will say there’s not a lot of research on bone broth, which is a legit point, but there’s a long history of use that means a lot to us.

You also want to watch the pot or vessel you cook in. Ceramic has some lead concerns so stainless steel is the way to go.  And finally you must use quality bones from organic chickens or grass fed beef. Animals store pesticides and hormones in their fat and you don’t want to drink that.

So, Yay or Step Away?

Lauren was asked if bone broth is a miracle and if bone broth will replace coffee? We don’t believe in food miracles nor do we have plans to “replace coffee”. However, bone broth made from grass-fed beef bones is full of omega-3’s and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which reduces inflammation and may decrease body fat. So, sip your way slim?

We say “yay” bone broth is a delicious and warming ritual for winter. With any healthy food, to feel the max benefits, it needs to be a regular part of your diet. Try a cup of broth a day or use it when making other soups or stews. If it’ll prevent us from getting sick, make us less achy with better skin and digestion? We’re in.

Have you tried bone broth? Do you make it? Are we silly for being squeamish about making it? Or are you phobic too? 

Are You Juice-Confused?

I juice and when I’m not juicing I’m spending (too much) money on juices from juice shops or taking pictures of my juices. In this juice-centric universe I live in it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that when most people think juice it’s still apple/orange/cranberry that come to mind. A client asked, “what do you mean when you say green juice” uh oh I assumed (remember the grammar school spelling trick- don't assume  it makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me”). 

Since I'm an ass, I asked Joanna our Snack Queen to morph into a juice queen and answer some questions:

For my client and the others out there who are juice-confused, what is a green juice?

 It is exactly what it sounds, a juice made from greens. In the same way you get orange juice from an orange, green juice is derived from kale, spinach, collard greens, chard, watercress etc.

Ha, I always thought it sounds like a juice that is the color green. Greens are healthy but oftentimes there are other ingredients lurking; some juices are actually chock full of fruit, how do you pick a good one?

To steer clear of sugary green juices, your best bet is to choose a concoction with max ONE fruit per green juice not counting lemon or lime. You said in June’s Allure magazine that green juices can contain 6 teaspoons of sugar and that was shocking to me but sure enough options from Blue Print and Evolution have 19-24 grams of sugar (there are four grams of sugar per teaspoon).

How come people don’t think about organic when it comes to green juice and why is it especially important?  

Because so much produce (up to 6 to 9 cups) is used to make juice, you don’t want to be drinking a glass of pesticides. Some favorite NYC options to go for organic juices are One Lucky Duck, Gingersnaps Organics and Organic Avenue. And a great resource is Living Maxwell’s PressedJuice Directory that lists locations where you can find pressed organic juice all over the world. He also interviewed you about your juicing habit.

We’ve been on lookout for less sweet green juices (especially since we quit sugar our month ends today but still) what would you say are our top 5 less sweet concoctions?

1. One Lucky Duck -Mean Greens 

2. Juice Press- Mother Earth this was the first all-greens juice I really enjoyed, love the dandelion

3. Organic Avenue - Mellow Love  this is Carolyn's favorite.
These two have 1 fruit

4. Juice Generation Supa Dupa Greens- we have made with ½ apple

5. Gingersnap Organics- Go Kick -the pear makes this delicious.

Thanks J, see you at the Fancy Food Show. 

Do you juice? What are your favorite combinations? Any favorite juice shops in your area? 

A great juicing resource

Are you familiar with Max Goldberg or since we're all know by our handles Living Maxwell? If you're passionate about healthy food and juicing he has a  great feature Pressed Organic Juice Directory, he’s curated juicing locations in different states, even in different countries. Max is also a great resource, I follow his tweets and posts as I find he's always manages to locate information I have yet to hear (legitmate information). 

He interviewed me for the Juice Directory. I do a lot of these Q/As and I really felt this was fun and worthy of the repost. Here’s  portion of the piece below, the rest can be found here

Why do you juice?
I’ll admit a couple ulterior motives for juicing others may not have mentioned (or admitted). I juice because it makes me feel nutritionally virtuous – getting so many nutrients into a couple of cups – and I also juice because it helps me successfully use up the farm box.
But juicing energizes me and my workouts, and helps debloat me when necessary. And I swear that any compliments I get on my skin have more to do with juice than topical products (although I love Joanna Vargas’daily serum which she refers to as “green juice for your skin”).

Tell me about your juicing lifestyle?
I was a “smoother” before I was a juicer and still alternate between green smoothies and juices. Although there are some common “players”, I feel juicing is where I’m most creative. With cooking, I’m more of a recipe girl but for juices I feel there’s really no messing up. Either the Vitamix or the juicer get action daily.

Do you have a juicing habit that no one knows about?
Ooh you mean a juice secret (or juicy secret)? Hmmm – pretty much everyone I know or e-know hears about my juices since I Instagram them constantly. If there are ingredients that I find are secret weapons, those would be coconut, fresh herbs and fresh turmeric. My best-kept juice secret, the “bikini greenie”, is in The Little Book of Thin’s pre-beach chapter (rude and annoying to mention and make readers wait, I know).

What is one of your favorite pressed organic juices?
Ooh can I name two? I adore both Jalapina from Organic Avenue and Swan Greens from One Lucky Duck.

How has your juicing evolved over the years?
My juices are less sweet and more interesting, but greens, lemon, and ginger will always be staples. Some things don’t change.

What kind of juicer do you have at home and how often do you make it?
I have a Breville. I know some purists will say this juice gets “heated” but you know what? I love it!

What are the biggest mistakes people make when juicing?
Too much fruit. We don’t need more fruit juice in our lives. I suggest 1 fruit (excluding lemon/lime) per juice.

What are your thoughts on juice cleanses?
I love juice/clean food cleanses like The Squeeze and Not Just a Juice Cleanse from Pure Food and Wine.

What are your best tips for staying healthy when traveling?Arm yourself. We have a Food First Aid Kit that we send clients away with and a Nutcase to bring Foodtraining abroad. There’s a tonic for every travel trap from the minibar to vacation-constipation. I also find seeking out juice shops is a great way to locate the healthy folks in town.
Do you seek out juice when you travel? Do you juice at home? What are your favorite ingredients? What type of juice do you have?