Fresh Rambutan
For fans of sweet, juicy fruit, stop in at Trader Joe’s this week and pick up a clamshell packet of a dozen fresh Rambutan fruit – large round (golf ball-sized) reddish pink fruit with greenish prickly spines (they don’t hurt) on the exterior.
A tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia, the Rambutan is also grown in Guatemala and imported into the US. Sweet, juicy, and refreshing, the Rambutan is a wholesome, healthy snack that is often described as a big grape with a different kind of skin. Read more 
Café Fanny Organic Granola
Back in 1984, Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame opened a casual cafe called Café Fanny in Berkeley, California with a simple menu that included her mother’s recipe for organic granola. For the next three decades, the organic granola was the mainstay that customers could count on year after year.
Although Café Fanny closed in 2012, the recipe lives on with Cassandra Chen, the owner of CC Made, a maker of artisan caramels, popcorn, and sauces that bought the original recipe, kept it the same (why change a good thing?), updated the packaging, and added two new flavors to the mix: Flaxseed and Cran-Coconut. Read more
Lupa’s Maple Bliss Sprouted Nut Clusters
Georgia is the largest supplier of pecans in the United States with about 100 million pounds produced annually (that’s a lot of pecans but only a third of what Americans consume annually). Although pecans are often associated with pie, shortbread, and pralines, the rich buttery flavor of a pecan is also delicious toasted, blended with dark chocolate, added to a salad, or used to make clusters – a blend of ingredients that just taste awesome together. Read more
Wild Berry Sprouted Trail Mix
Wild Berry Sprouted Trail Mix by Living Intentions is an exotic blend of berries (mulberries, goji, and golden), fruit (currants and sultanas) sprouted pumpkin seeds, cashews, and raw cacao nibs.
Organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, and plant-based, the Wild Berry Sprouted Trail Mix is referred to as “Activated Sprouted Trail Mix” meaning that the ingredients are at their highest potential to provide the most nutrient-dense, flavorful snack available. Read more
Italian Harvest Risotto with Tomatoes and Arugula
Making a rich, creamy (dairy-free) risotto is not on the top ten list of most home cooks but it should be because risotto is a dish that avails itself to dozens of variations and typically requires no more than 25 minutes of time from start to finish. The key to a great risotto is the quality of the rice, the ingredients used to flavor the risotto, and a commitment to stir the risotto as it cooks to prevent the rice from sticking to the pan. Read more
Parma Zaan Sprinkles
Parma Zaan Sprinkles are an almond-based vegan substitute for parmesan cheese. Dairy-free with all natural ingredients and no artificial anything, Parma Zaan Sprinkles is also notable for containing no hydrogenated fats or refined sugar. Made with five ingredients: blanched almond meal, sea salt, nutritional yeast, dehydrated onion, and citric acid, Parma Zaan Sprinkles provide the nutty, cheesy flavor we all love without the dairy. Read more
BetterOats® Organic Bare Instant Multigrain Hot Cereal
To make better happen every day.
BetterOats® is owned by Post, the third largest cereal company in the United States – a corporation better known as the maker of Honey Combs, Alpha-Bits, Fruity Pebbles, and Raisin Bran. In an effort to capture the more health conscious market (and for this the company should be commended), BetterOats® has recently introduced an unsweetened instant multigrain hot cereal made with seven ingredients: Read more
BuckWHAT Granola
Not all granola is created equal.
When I hear the word “buckwheat,” I am reminded of “The Little Rascals” and “Our Gang” – the popular short films about a group of neighborhood kids (Spanky, Alfalfa, Chubby, Breezy, Darla, Stymie, and of course, Buckwheat), their dog (Pete), and beloved teacher (Miss Crabtree) that was filmed in the 1930’s and enjoyed syndication on television for decades after.
But, buckwheat is actually a very popular food in Russia and China (owing to its short growing season) that serves as a staple similar to quinoa in Peru, rice in Asian countries, and corn in Latin America. Many Americans think buckwheat belongs to the wheat family, as its name suggests but buckwheat is a gluten-free seed packed with protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. And, therefore a perfect ingredient for granola. Read more
Augie Granola
The granola section in many grocery stores is starting to look like the cereal aisle of a Grand Union circa 1980 but instead of cereal, the shelves are filled with every type of granola known to mankind. Most people are thrilled with all the new choices of this traditional breakfast food though there are some naysayers who claim the last thing we need is another artisan granola. Not so and I’ll tell you why. Read more
Fever-Tree Naturally Light Tonic Water
If 99% of your tonic and lime is tonic, make sure you use the best.
With summer fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about refreshing drinks to enjoy after those long, hot summer days. Few drinks are as thirst quenching as a large glass filled with ice cubes, tonic and a slice of lime with the secret in the tonic. Really good tonic has the perfect balance of bitter from quinine (that comes from the cinchona tree) and sweet that can be from table sugar (sucrose), high fructose corn syrup (fructose and glucose derived from corn), artificial sweeteners, or just plain fructose (a natural sweetener found primarily in fruits, vine fruits, flowers, berries, and most root vegetables). Read more
Paddock Post 