Greek vs. Regular

I'm talking yogurt here, people.  U.S. News reports that overall, Greek yogurt is healthier than its regular yogurt counterpart.  See?  Greek Yogurt vs. Regular Yogurt:  Which is More Healthful?

It sort of makes me feel bad for regular yogurt.  :/

How Many Calories Do Olympic Athletes Need?

A lot.  Well, except for the weight-class type of athletes.  (Note to self: Never participate in taekwondo, wrestling, fencing, and light weight rowing.)

Check it out: How Many Calories Do Olympic Athletes Need?

Friday Fun

Look at what I found for you!



My favorite part is at the 1:33 mark.

I put this movie on as background noise last night while I cleaned the kitchen.  Normally I don't do things like that because movies basically suck me in.  I think, though, because "Willy Wonka" is a musical, it helped.  I mean, is there much else better than cleaning cupboards while singing "The Candy Man Can?"  Probably not.

Scandybars

I recently found out about this delightful Tumblr site called Scandybars.  The blogger dissects candy, and posts pictures of the entrails online.  My favorites, of course, are the candy bars -- the chocolatey treats with interesting insides.

These are my favorites: Cadbury Creme Egg and Ferrero Rocher

 


But the blogger also posts silly things, such as the cross section of Swedish Fish:

I just love it.  I wish I had thought of it.  :/

Apple Pie Rules

Last week was Pie Week on NPR, and I missed it.  :/

Thankfully, we have the Internet now, and I can catch things I missed on "Morning Edition."  Here's one thing:  Apple pie is the most popular pie in America.  It's not surprising, really, given that we use the phrase "As American as apple pie" in everyday parlance.  Well, marketers use it, anyway, and perhaps now we know why: because it's true!

This is the complete Top 5 Pies list:

1. Apple
2. Pumpkin
3. Cherry
4. Blueberry
5. Dutch apple

It seems rather silly to me that apple is on there twice, so now I'm going to give you the results of NPR's pie survey, which produced slightly different results:

1. Apple
2. Strawberry rhubarb
3. Pumpkin
4. Cherry
5. Blueberry

That's more like it!


Check out the full article, Five Facts About Pie that might Surprise You.

You've Gotta Be Kidding Me

The world's most expensive cupcake costs $1,007.  $1,007!  Can you guess where it's made?  Would it be a surprise to anyone if I said Dubai?


Despite the ridiculousness of it all, I will admit it's fun to watch the making-of video: World's priciest cupcake will give you gold poop.

There are so many questions I'd like to ask the chef, but if I could only ask one, it'd be this:  Is gold leaf tasty at all?

Why do Chocolate Chips Hold Their Shape?

While baking, that is. I've always wondered why chocolate chips maintain their shape, even if they've been in the oven for a while. Well, I now know. It's a matter of fat. They contain less cocoa butter, or fat, and that means they will hold their shape at high temperatures. I don't quite know what the chemistry behind it is, but I'm guessing that fat melts at lower temperatures than say, cocoa powder, which would in turn force a piece of chocolate to lose it's shape.

At any rate, chocolate chips have less fat. Chocolate bars, on the other hand, don't. So it's important to bake with a chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips, if a recipe calls for it. If you want a silky smooth chocolate mixture, go for the bar. :)

Best Store-Bought Cookies Ever

I pride myself in not regularly eating store-bought cookies. I mean, if I'm gonna "waste" calories, I'm gonna waste them on some home-baked, fresh-from-the-oven sweets -- not crunchy, crumbly, flavorless yuckies from the grocery store.* I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm a cookie snob.

So when I decided to give Candy Cane Oreos a whirl on Sunday, I had fairly low expectations. I thought, "Creme with crunchy sprinkles? I dunno . . ." But I tried one, anyway, 'cause who can resist a mint/chocolate combination, and lo and behold! I was forever changed. That cookie was magical. I. Wanted. More.

So more I got. Four bags more, in fact. Yes, that's right -- the following day I bought the last four bags (that I could find) at Wally World. I didn't eat them all . . . That would just be ridiculous. I gave two bags away and am considering giving the fourth away. Why? Because the world has to know about these cookies. They are the best, and I can't keep that knowledge to myself. (That does not mean I haven't eat at least six Oreos every night for the last three nights. A girl has got to eat, after all.)

Anyway, buy a bag.** Or don't. Because they're like Pringles that way: Once you pop, you can't stop!


* It's quite amazing that one company can produce both the best cookie and the worst. (See Food Review: Mint OREO Fudge Cremes.)
** Incidentally, the bag is extremely user-friendly. You can re-seal it after you've had your fill of cookies. It really locks in that crisp Oreo freshness.

I Heart Chocolate Silk

A couple of weeks ago, a friend suggested I buy Chocolate Silk. He said it was life-changing. I didn't believe him, but I bought it anyway. I thought maybe he knew what he was talking about.

He knew what he was talking about.


The first time I had soy milk was years ago. My sister-in-law drinks the vanilla-flavored Silk, so I tried it and hated it. (I felt so bad for people with lactose intolerance and thanked my lucky stars that I could pour as much milk on my cereal as I wanted without hesitation.) I thought Chocolate Silk would taste just as bad, especially since ready-made chocolate milk is, in my opinion, gross. (It's always too chocolatey!) Boy, was I wrong! In fact, I love the stuff so much that I drink it nearly every day. I like to have some when I get home from school or work; it gives me something to look forward to. Yesterday, however, I had to go home in the middle of the day, and I was more than a little excited that I'd get to "cheat" and have my glass of Chocolate Silk in the afternoon.

I'm probably addicted now, but there are worse things to get addicted to, right? I mean, I don't eat enough protein as it is . . . And if I'm going to have a chocolate fix each day (which I almost always do), at least it's in the form of soy milk than say, a candy bar. Right? Right??? Can I get a AMEN? ;)

A New Kind of Chocolate . . . In Peru!

Did you know that chocolate is influenced by the region where it's grown? Depending on the country from which it comes, a cacao bean can have complex changes in flavor. Recently, scientists from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service reported discovering three previously unknown varieties of wild cacao in Peru.

But what does this Peruvian chocolate taste like, you ask?

Sadly for chocoholics, it will be several years before we get to find out. Cacao is a slow-growing tree; it takes at least five years for a tree to bear pods. So it will be a long while yet before the saplings now growing at a central collection spot in Tarapoto, Peru, yield enough beans to turn into chocolate.*

I think the takeaway from this news is twofold:

1. Be on the lookout for Peruvian chocolate in a few years.
2. Try chocolate from other regions of the world! (Apparently, Bolivian chocolate is amazing.

*Source: In Peru, A Hunt for Chocolate like You've Never Tasted It.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies I've Ever Eaten

Chocolate chip cookies are hard to get right. It's such a simple cookie, really, so you'd think there wouldn't be much to it. But that's precisely why I think good chocolate chip cookies are so hard to come by. Besides chocolate, there aren't many complex flavors going on in that cookie, You can't hide, for example, a bland base flavor by adding the excitement of M&Ms or butterscotch chips or coconut. It's just the base and the chocolate chips.

It may seem odd, but for a long time, the best chocolate chip cookies I had ever had were the Nestle Toll House cookies sold at Subway. They definitely had the best flavor. Still, they were always too flat for my liking.

I've tried chocolate chip cookies from all sorts of places. I even try to make my own, when I can't find the best recipe, but I can never get them quite right, either . . .

I finally found the best, though. At a hole-in-the-wall deli in Austin. Specializing in sandwiches, salads, and soups, Fricano's Deli is an unlikely place to find the best chocolate chip cookie. It's a tiny place just north of The University of Texas' campus, and it's fantastic. To be sure, the sandwiches are delicious, but I was surprised to find that they made desserts from scratch.

When I was there the first time, I saw one of the employees mixing the cookie batter. She said something about how she put her "heart and soul" into the cookies. At first I thought it was sort of a silly thing to say, but a while later, after I had devoured my cookie, I realized that she wasn't kidding!

If you are in Austin, get your chocolate chip cookies from Fricano's only! I don't care what anybody else says about other bakeries in town -- trust me, they're not as good!


Update: Not long after publishing this post, I went to Fricano's to buy more cookies. I asked for the recipe, and they told me they used the one on the back of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip bag! I couldn't believe it, but the guy I talked to assured me that's what they used. I'm betting that they use a bit more flour than the original recipe calls for . . . And maybe that woman I talked to before really does put her heart and soul into the batter! :)

Might as Well Face It: I'm Addicted to Peanut Butter

That's right. I've been obsessed with peanut butter lately. It used to take me several months to go through my standard-size jar of extra crunchy Jif. Lately, though, I've been going through peanut butter jars like a madwoman. It took me about a month and a half to finish off my last jar!

But here's the thing: I've started mixing it with honey. I did that as a kid, and I guess I forgot about it. I forgot how wonderfully yummy peanut butter and honey is together. And you can make it very sweet or not too sweet. And you can spread it on nearly everything. This is what I like to eat my peanut butter and honey with:

• Bananas
• Graham crackers
• Nilla Wafers
• Apples
• Bread
• By itself

What I wanted to especially point out, though, is that when you eat it on a graham cracker, it sort of tastes like the Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies. No joke! No more waiting for March to have your Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies!!! Yay!

Food Review: Mint OREO Fudge Cremes

These are gross. Let me tell you why:

1. They left one of the chocolate cookies off.
2. The fudge creme makes the chocolate cookie a little soggy.
3. There's too much chocolate flavor and not enough mint.

All in all, this is a poor excuse for a cookie. The lack of crunch was the worst part.

I'm always looking for ways to get that Thin Mint experience during the off-season, but thinking that Mint OREO Fudge Cremes would be a good substitute was a mistake. What was I thinking?!?

I'm actually going to throw the box out. I don't know if I've ever done that with chocolate/cookies. (So trust me on this: Save your money for a different chocolate-y treat!)

Everybody Likes a Parfait!

Donkey was right about parfaits: Everybody likes them! And you know what? I have found the perfect ingredients for one. :)

I use variations of three ingredients:
Low-fat vanilla yogurt
I use low-fat vanilla yogurt (preferably Kroger brand) because it's a little more tart than regular vanilla yogurt or non-fat yogurt. I like it because it gives anything a little kick!

Granola cereal
Granola cereal is best for parfaits because there are biggish chunks that make the granola extra crunchy. (I like the Kroger brand for this, too.)

Fruit
I used to use fresh blueberries almost exclusively. Then I switched to fresh strawberries. Today I discovered that frozen fruit is divine in parfaits. The bit of juice you get in frozen fruit provides a nice syrupy texture that gives the parfait a cobbler feel. Right now I'm using Kirkland's Trader Farms Triple Berry.*

So basically, just layer each ingredient on top of each other. I don't put too much effort into creating multiple layers. Usually, I just scoop some yogurt into a Tupperware container, throw a large handful of berries on top, sprinkle about a third of a cup of granola cereal on top of that, and finally, add a few more heaping spoonfuls of yogurt on the very top. Then I put the lid on the container and let the parfait sit in the fridge for a few hours.

In my opinion, those last two steps are crucial. At least some of the granola cereal has to be touching a layer of yogurt. Then, when you let the parfait sit in the fridge for a while, the granola gets a bit soft and chewy. But because it's granola cereal, some of the granola chunks stay crunchy. In the end, you get a sort of tart cobbler concoction -- but it doesn't have ice cream! So it's healthy!

Try making a parfait my way! I promise that you won't regret it!


*"But, Sara?" you ask. "What's a marionberry?" I know, I know -- I wondered, too! Let's let Wikipedia tell us: marionberry.

Eat a Peach!

Better yet, eat a peach while listening to Eat a Peach! (Boy, those Allman Brothers knew what they were singing about!)

Seriously, though. Peaches are wonderful this season. I've had a peach almost every day for the last couple of weeks! You'd think I'd be tired of them, but I'm not! Because they're so good! There's almost nothing worse than a bad peach (Okay, there are a lot of things worse than a bad peach), but there is almost nothing better than a good one! (And that is true!)

I have just been eating peaches plain, but my mom always uses them to make peaches 'n' cream. You just dice a peach, put it into a cereal bowl, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top, and pour milk and a little whipping cream into it. It's basically peach cereal. I may or may not add a little extra cream . . . which makes it sort of unhealthy . . . But it is so good! In fact, I may have peaches 'n' cream for breakfast tomorrow!

Eat a peach!*


*But don't eat an apple. In my opinion, apples are sub-par this year. What happened?

The King and I

The peanut butter and banana sandwich (with or without bacon/bacon grease) is often referred to as the The Elvis because it is widely known that Elvis Presley ate many a PB&B sandwich in one sitting.

How I know that, I'm not really sure, and why it gives me somewhat of a thrill every time I eat such a sandwich, I don't know. It might be because I really like Elvis. (I mean, have you listened to Jailhouse Rock lately? So good!) And it might be because I find it fascinating that people in the '50s did the same things as people now. (Really, that thought never gets old.)

One thing I do know is that minus the bacon/bacon grease, The Elvis is a highly nutritional sandwich. I like to eat mine on toasted whole wheat English muffins or flatbread. A few tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter and a sliced banana make it a low-calorie, healthy meal!

Now, go! Get thee to a kitchen and make The Elvis!

Whole Grain Mac 'n' Cheese!

Am I the last person to know that Kraft Foods now makes whole grain macaroni and cheese? What a magnificent product! I didn't grow up on homemade macaroni and cheese; it was always Kraft macaroni in my parents' house. As such, I love the stuff! Unfortunately, I had cut it out of my diet for the most part because I don't like to eat much white flour, if I can help it.

So imagine my delight when I saw that Kraft now makes macaroni with half white flour and half whole wheat! Now I'm getting at least some whole grains without completely sacrificing the flavor!

Yummee!

Graeter's Ice Cream and Candy

I haven't posted anything on this blog since November of last year. Well, I hope that dry spell is over, thanks to 2 things:

1. I decided to expand the scope of this blog a bit. Instead of just blogging about chocolate, I will blog about baking in general. Uh, I doubt I will write about cooking because my true interest is in sweet treats . . .
2. I tasted the best dark chocolate I've ever had in my life. I will expound on this below.

A co-worker brought Cincinnati's finest to the office today -- in the form of Graeter's dark chocolate bars. I tend to be skeptical of dark chocolate because it's usually bitter and waxy. Actually, that's probably because I rarely eat gourmet chocolate. I'm used to cheap dark chocolate, like Hershey's and Dove. (Dove dark is pretty good.)

Oh, but Graeter's dark chocolate has so much genuine chocolate flavor. The texture is amazing; it's so, so smooth and creamy. My co-worker brought their milk chocolate as well, but it just didn't hold a candle to the dark. Not even close.

Well, I looked Graeter's up online, and from the looks of it, the company's big draw is ice cream. Louis C. Graeter began the business in 1870 as an ice cream shop. He started in Cincinnati, and as the range of sweets grew to include candy, the number of shops grew. Graeter's now operates in 7 U.S. cities and has an online store. (Though, they are not shipping anything at the moment due to warm weather -- shucks.)

But you can read all about the company's history online. What I want you to take away from this post is that all I know about Graeter's is their chocolate, and it's good. Very good. Bottom line? Graeter's is greater. Get some.

Hershey's Sticks

Just call me Louis. Or Clark. Because I just discovered a new chocolate product for you!

It seems that the folks at Hershey have jumped on board the small-portion-size marketing strategy (e.g. 100-calorie packs). They've created Hershey's Sticks -- smooth and creamy, perfectly-sized, 60-calorie chocolate sticks. The sticks come in 4 varieties: milk chocolate, caramel-filled milk chocolate, rich dark chocolate, and mint chocolate. They really are the perfect snack size! I'm telling you -- if you have a hankering for an after-lunch, but before-work-ends sweet snack, keep these on hand. You'll satisfy your chocolate urge, but with only 60 calories. Not bad! (Of course, you do need to make sure you only eat one . . .)

I think the psychology behind it is in the shape. They are long and skinny sticks. So you almost feel like you're eating a candy bar -- just a skinny one. But those little Hershey miniatures? Fuhgedaboudit. They make me think I need to eat about 10 before I'm satisfied . . .

Basically, I think if you're a chocoholic like me, this is a great development in the industry for you.

Bonus: You can use these sticks in hot chocolate!

Recipe for Some Good Hot Chocolate

Okay, so this isn't really an original recipe, but if you need some great hot chocolate fast, this is what you have to do:

1. Buy Archer Farms Hazelnut Hot Cocoa Mix from Target.
2. Buy a box of Hershey's Sticks, the Mint Milk Chocolate variety.
3. Make one cup of hot cocoa, according to the directions on the hot chocolate tin. (This means you'd be using 4 tablespoons of cocoa mix.)
   
4. Add half of a mint Hershey Stick to the mixture, and stir until it's thoroughly melted.

And that's it! You can add whipped cream if you want, which I almost always recommend -- the fatter, the better, I say!

So this recipe seems pretty boring, but just try it. It'll knock your proverbial socks off! The thing that's so great about this recipe is that it's minty, but not overly minty, which is the problem I have with many mint chocolate mixes. Also, I used only water for this mix, whereas usually I use milk for hot chocolate. Milk is my favorite, but then you have to deal with that curdled layer on top when you heat it -- gross! But I guess what you trade off for milkfat in this mix is sugar -- 'cuz there's a lot of it!

Go make yourself some hot chocolate!