Goldie's Premium Carob Bar - Banana

Carob is a healthy alternative to chocolate; it’s lower in fat and calories and caffeine-free; it’s very nutritious, in some ways more than cacao. You can use carob powder 1:1 in place of cocoa powder in recipes. It has a different taste, chocolate-y but also sweeter (so you can cut down the amount of sugar). Carob comes from the bean of the Locust tree, commonly called Honey Locust (though, we have a honey locust in my Dad's front yard, been there forever, and occasionally it would have small fruit; never thought that it could be edible- likely not). I came across these bars in a health food store. Goldie’s has been making carob bars for 25 years. Their bars contain no preservatives, refined sugars or hydrogenated oils. This one is banana flavoured. The ingredient listing looks to me to be more reminiscent of a milk chocolate bar, barley malt (essentially sugar), fractionated palm kernel oil, carob powder, banana extract and milk.

How does it taste? I like the taste of carob, the smell of it, though it is by far a different experience to cacao, and is not a replacement. Though, you can still enjoy it on its own merits, and I did enjoy this bar, despite finding it a little chalky in texture, and also a little sweet (carob is naturally sweet, and you actually need less sugar in recipes than using cocoa). The banana is there, but not predominant (wonder what it would taste like with chewy banana pieces!). The bar cost about $4, and I don't have a ready source for it, but I would buy this bar again.

Whole Wheat Spaghettini with Scallops and Arugula

I had made this recipe long ago once, and had mostly forgotten about it, but we had some arugula, and it popped into my head again. This recipe actually calls for the larger sea scallops, which you sear until crispy and brown, but we had only bay scallops, and frozen ones at that, but the recipe didn’t suffer. We also omitted the capers that the original recipe called for; I think it’s an acquired taste. All together, even with these changes, the pasta tastes good, the pepperiness of the arugula comes out against the background of the lemon. Fairly easy to make.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Scallops and Arugula
Adapted from a recipe from Williams-Sonoma
1/2 lb. bay scallops, side muscle removed
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Grated zest of 1 lemon
handful of Italian basil
5 shallots, minced
1/2 package whole wheat spaghettini
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 large bunch arugula, preferably small leaved, stems removed

Rinse the scallops and dry well with paper towels. Season the scallops with salt and pepper. In a large, heavy fry pan over high heat, warm the olive oil until it shimmers. In batches without crowding, add the scallops and sear until nicely browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Turn the scallops over and brown the other side, about 1 minute more. Return all the scallops to the pan, add the lemon zest and basil, and cook for a moment. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the scallops to a bowl. Reduce the heat to low and add the shallots to the pan, adding more oil, if needed. Sauté until softened, about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously salt the boiling water, add the pasta and cook until al dente (tender but firm to the bite), 3 to 4 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, add the lemon juice and stock to the fry pan and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom. Simmer until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the pasta well and add it to the fry pan. Add the scallops and any juices that have accumulated, then add the pine nuts. Toss over low heat to finish cooking the scallops and mix the ingredients, about 1 minute. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Transfer to a warmed large, shallow bowl, add the arugula leaves and toss gently. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Rustic Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce

We had a large number of cherry tomatoes we bought at Riverdale Organic Farmer’s Market, mostly from a momentary lapse of brain function (I forgot that I had bought some just five minutes earlier, but, in my defence, there are so many good looking and interesting fruits and vegetables at the Market, it’s hard not to take some of everything home). We also had some very nice basil, so we decided to make this pasta sauce. I call it rustic, because I left the cherry tomatoes mostly whole, only cut them in half, and did not blend them, so they have retained their shape. Not only are these cherry tomatoes good looking, but they are good tasting, and this pasta sauce was quite good. We enjoyed this on spaghettini with some vegetarian sausage.

Rustic Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce
1 medium onion
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp oil
35-40 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp fresh basil, plus more for garnish
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Dice onion and mince garlic and add to pan; sautée until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, cut cherry tomatoes in half. Add them to the pan, along with the basil, salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are very tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Luna & Larry's Organic Coconut Bliss - Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge

I had heard about this new more-healthy ice cream before, but it was, apparently, mostly sold in the States. This past weekend we came across a Tasting at Organic Garage in Oakville, and decided to check it out. The idea of Coconut Bliss, is that, instead of cow’s milk cream, it uses coconut milk. Coconut milk is used to make ice cream in Thailand, so this is not a new concept, save for North America. Each of Coconut Bliss’s ice creams also contain other healthy ingredients; they use agave syrup as a sweetener, which is low glycemic; all of their ingredients are Organic. The one I selected was their Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge.

How does it taste?. Quite good, and not overwhelmingly like coconut (save for their Naked Coconut one). The fudge is a small strip of agave sweetened cocoa and not too sweet at all. The hazelnuts are quite large chunks, though soft, and not crunchy. This is a small container, similar to how Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s market their ice creams, so no large bowls. Overall, I would say I enjoyed this ice cream, and more so than Dark Chocolate one I sampled.

Mesquite Pistachio Cocoa Nib Cookies

I’ve seen mesquite pod meal now in quite a few places, before it was really unknown in Canada. I like the smell of the mesquite baking, it gives kind of a smokiness to the cookie. This is a variation on a honey based chocolate chip cookie recipe that is one of my favourites. This is the second of two desserts I baked today, with pistachios and cocoa nibs. The raw cocoa powder kind of disappeared, it certainly didn’t turn the dough brown; perhaps I had to add more.

Mesquite Pistachio Cocoa Nib Cookies
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup mesquite pod meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp raw cocoa powder
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Preheat oven to 375F/190C.

Combine flours, soda, cocoa powder and salt and whisk together.

Cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and beat until fully incorporated. Stir in vanilla and honey.

Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture in two additions. Stir in cocoa nibs and pistachios.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cookies all golden all over.

Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a rack.

More "Adult" Carob-Quinoa Chews

I made a more traditional version of this recipe earlier, substituting carob for cocoa and quinoa puffs for millet puffs. The recipe I took this from is called Cocoa Millet Chews, from Health by Chocolate by Victoria Laine, which contains a number of more healthy recipes that are made from chocolate. I mean more adult, in the sense of, I think these would be less likely to be eaten by young children; the adult ingredients are pistachios, cocoa nibs and currants. Thinking about it now, I could even have added some Frangelico to it, to make it even more “adult”. Otherwise, they still taste good, a chewy, crunchy bite; the cashew butter is tasty too. They were well received at work.

More “Adult” Carob-Quinoa Chews
adapted from a recipe from Health by Chocolate by Victoria Laine
1 cup cashew butter (almond or other nut butter)
1 cup honey (pure maple syrup or brown rice syrup)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup carob powder (cocoa powder)
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
1/4 cup dried currants
1 to 1-1/2 cups puffed quinoa cereal (millet)

Heat cashew butter and honey on medium heat or double boiler, stirring constantly, until mixture just begins to bubble (about 2-3 minutes).

Take off heat and stir in vanilla.

Mix in sifted carob powder and puffed cereal. Add nuts and cocoa nibs and mix well. Cool several minutes.

Mold into balls. Cool on counter or in refrigerator until firm.

Lindt Caffarel Fruit Jellies

Lindt along with their chocolate, apparently also makes these jellies, as I call them, with various fruits. I tried four of them; quince, apricot, cherry and plum. The jellies are surrounded with a coarse sugar coating.

The quince is good tasting, with a mild flavour and definite taste of quince. My favourite.

The apricot is good tasting, with a subtle apricot flavour.

The cherry has a strong cherry flavour. Good tasting.

The plum has a subtle plum flavour. Good tasting.

Perugina Baci Bar

I've not cared for the Baci chocolates from Perugina, these are similar, just flattened out. The ingredient listing actually looks worse than the individual chocolates; sugar, unsweetened chocolate, hazelnuts, vegetable fats (palmist, palm, babacu, saffron, cotton), cocoa butter, modified milk ingredients, soya lecithin and artificial flavour. There is also no love note; I guess this is for those who love Baci.

How does it taste? Sweet, but not too bad. The hazelnuts and filling are there in flavour, but should be paired with a better chocolate. The bar cost $2. I liked this better than the individual chocolates, though not enough to eat again.

Cheese Manjyu

These came from a colleague of mine, he lives and works in Singapore. The filling is like creamy ricotta cheese. Not to my taste, but I like the tagline on the package for the ingredients; “High quality ingredients whose taste has been nurtured by natural light and wind in the greenery section”.

President's Choice The Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I did like President's Choice The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie, made with their The Decadent Semi-Sweet Chocolate, this is very similar to that cookie, but with chunks of chocolate rather than chips of chocolate. Or so their picture on the package shows, very large chunks of chocolate. The actual cookies don't seem to have very large chunks of bulging chocolate pieces. So, I don't see what the difference is between the two. Still good, but not as good as one I can make.