What could be a better gift for the vegan in your life than an offering of artisan chocolate? The answer is “nothing.” Fortunately, there are a large number of vegan chocolates that you can enjoy.
If you’re looking for a special occasion dessert, try this recipe by author and expert Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn for Rose Del Deserto (Desert Roses) cookies. It includes healthy options based on Paola’s improved version of the classic Mediterranean diet in her cookbook, which she calls The Mamma Mia! Diet.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 10 minutes
Yield: about 35-40 cookies
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350 °F). Cream the butter and sugar in a medium-sized bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract. Then mix the flour and the baking powder together in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and stir in the chocolate chips. Roll teaspoon-sized balls of dough in a bowl of cornflakes. Place the cookies, well-spaced (about 3-4 cm), on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar on top, just before serving.
Note: This recipe makes about 35-40 cookies. If the dough is too sticky, add one or two spoons of flour. You can substitute chocolate chips with other ingredients such as raisins, for an even healthier snack. Store in a airtight container. You can also store the baked cookies in the freezer; before serving, let them thaw at room temperature and then sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
ABOUT THE COOKBOOK AUTHORS
Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn is an Italian pharmacist, researcher and food writer. Cooking, eating healthy food and staying active have always been her life-long passions. She has a cooking blog Passion and Cooking, and contributes to several international magazines. She has previously published in Italy Love is Eating, focusing on Italian culinary culture.
Paola Palestini is a biochemistry professor at the Medical School of the University Milano-Bicocca, Italy. Recently, Paola has been actively involved in the promotion of the principles of a healthy diet through conferences and in collaboration with several magazines. She is the author of seventy-six scientific articles published in international journals.
THE MAMMA MIA! DIET
Written by Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn and Paola Palestini
Published by Hatherleigh Press.
If you’re looking for a fast and easy meal, you can’t go wrong with a tasty and organic-sourced frittata.
Recipe provided by True Story
Ingredients:
Makes 4 servings
How to Make Frittatas:
About True Story:
Founded in San Francisco in 2011, True Story Foods believes in a future of food that is a return to what is real and true. True Story believes in a future of food that is a return to what is real and true. A future that is respectful of the source of our food – the soil, the animals, and the farmers. True Story is nurturing a community of family farmers, artisan producers, progressive retailers, and food lovers who are dedicated to this future.
True Story is available nationally in select natural and traditional grocery retailers and Costco. For more information, visit www.truestoryfoods.com.
Barcelona is a great place to visit. It is a wonderful city, and most people love it. And even if they don’t love it, they still like it quite a bit more than other places.
Of course there is great food and great drink in this town on the edge of the Mediterranean in northern Spain. The selections range from seafood, cheese, rice, and wine, to beer, cocktails, meats, and breads.
This means that you have a lot of options on the menu to enjoy. But we say that when you are in Barcelona, unless you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you must always have these two dishes at least once.
The first is a delicious serving of patatas bravas, a local potato diced dish in a red sauce. Most people look at it and think it might be quite hot and spicy, but when eaten they realize that it is actually quite flavorful and savory, as the basic ingredients are olive oil, red pepper, paprika, chili, and vinegar.
Patatas bravas are one of the traditional tapas of the Catalan region.
The other item is what we like to call, the Cone of Meat. Often it is composed different of meats, but it can also include a mix of seafood such fried fish or calamari as well. The basic concept is that it is a paper cone filled with slices and dices of a selection of tasty morsels. If it’s made of meat then this could be a combination of sliced sausages, Serrano ham, manchego cheese, or chorizo.
It could be anything really, even just a mix of local artisan cheeses. It’s essentially a cone of mixed delights: “cono mixto” (aka cono de mini fuets, cono de jamon y queso, etc.). In addition, what bumps this particular dish up to a higher level of desire is that it is mobile friendly. The choice is up to you. You can either stroll the streets or markets while munching on this, or sit at a table and enjoy it with a delicious glass of red vino or a taste of cava.
Ah, Barcelona!
TasteTV recently experienced a 9-course lunch at Jardín Nebulosa, an incredible restaurant located in the mountain town of San Sebastián del Oeste, outside of Puerto Vallarta
If you thought the toughest peer restaurant reviews would be in New York or Chicago, you would be wrong. They are in California and Texas, specifically in Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These are results from a study commissioned by Home Run Inn Pizza and analyzed by Digital Third Coast.
The study used Eater.com’s “38 Essential” lists and analyzed 4,000 data points across Google, Yelp, Facebook and TripAdvisor to better understand the rankings and platforms that the average person reads reviews on before making their decision to visit a business or not.
What they found was that California and Texas have some of the toughest and most critical reviewers, although New Yorkers and Chicagoans are definitely the most opinionated.
Overall Rankings:
· Highest ratings: Facebook review
· Lowest ratings: Yelp
· Highest number of reviews: Yelp
· Lowest number of reviews: TripAdvisor
Toughest Crowd: (Average ratings across Google, Yelp, Facebook, and TripAdvisor. #1 being the hardest to please, #25 being the easiest to please)
1. Austin
2. Houston
3. Los Angeles
4. San Francisco
5. Washington, DC
6. New York
7. New Orleans
8. Montreal
9. London
10. Dallas
11. Chicago
12. Nashville
13. Twin Cities
14. Paris
15. Atlanta
16. Miami
17. Portland
18. Las Vegas
19. Detroit
20. Philadelphia
21. Seattle
22. San Diego
23. Boston
24. Denver
25. Charleston
Most opinionated crowd: (Average number of reviews across Google, Yelp, Facebook, and TripAdvisor)
1. Chicago
2. New York
3. San Francisco
4. Las Vegas
5. New Orleans
6. Washington DC
7. Los Angeles
8. San Diego
9. Nashville
10. Houston
11. Portland
12. Austin
13. Miami
14. Charleston
15. Atlanta
16. Detroit
17. Twin Cities
18. Philadelphia
19. Dallas
20. Boston
21. Montreal
22. Seattle
23. Denver
24. Paris
25. London
(#1 the highest number of reviews, #25 fewest reviews)
For more details, visit Chicago-based Digital Third Coast