The Sumo Citrus Orange
A Sumo Citrus Orange is quite possibly the sweetest orange you will ever taste. Seedless, full of flavor, and easy to peel, the Sumo Citrus Orange is everything the Clementine seemed to promise but couldn’t deliver.
It all started with a citrus grower in Japan who wanted to combine the best attributes of two types of oranges: the easy to peel Satsuma of Japan and the big, juicy, sweet oranges of California. For years, this hybrid orange was only grown in Japan and Korea but a group of farmers in Central Valley, California – the 450 mile long, 50 mile wide large flat valley – realized this huge agricultural garden is the ideal place to grow one of the world’s best citrus fruits. Read more 
Dark Chocolate Covered Dried Mangos
One of our favorite places to eat lunch or dinner in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is Christopher’s Kitchen – a restaurant whose mission is to serve high quality, organic plant-based food. Fresh squeezed raw cold-pressed juices, nut milks, salads, veggie burgers, rustic pizzas, tacos, burritos, bowls, noodles and more are served at this casual, light-filled restaurant.
Christopher’s Kitchen also offers a wide variety of homemade desserts including dark chocolate covered mango, which is decadent and delicious: chewy, dried mango slices covered in rich dark chocolate. At $4 an ounce (or $64 per pound), the dark chocolate covered mangos at Christopher’s Kitchen are expensive so I decided to make this treat myself – a super, easy task that brings the cost down to about $11 a pound using premium dark chocolate and dried mangos). Read more
Barnana
Barnana is one of the newest, most delicious super snacks on the market. Created and distributed by Wholesome Valley Foods of La Jolla, California, a Barnana has one ingredient – an organic banana – a chewy bite-sized piece of banana that has been dehydrated at 104 degrees which allows the nutritional density and natural enzymes to stay intact. Gluten-free and a great source of potassium, fiber, vitamins and minerals, Barnanas are 100% raw and unprocessed…and did I mention moist and delicious? Read more
Penne with Butternut Squash and Zucchini
Butternut squash is a colorful and nutritious vegetable but also a bit bland and mushy which is why this year-round vegetable is often used as a base for soups or served mashed. Combining butternut squash and pasta may seem like a double mushy idea but the addition of seasonings for flavor, green zucchini for color, and toasted almonds for crunch make for a delicious main course or side dish. Easy to make in a large skillet, the dish takes 30 minutes from start to finish (with 20 minutes of the time allocated to cooking). Read more
How ’bout a Date?
Several years ago while living in Switzerland, a friend gave my family a tray of dried fruits – figs, dates, and apricots – from the Middle-East where he often traveled. The jumbo sized dates formed my idea of what a date should be: sweet, moist, creamy and delicious. Unfortunately, the standard date available at grocery stores (and even Whole Foods) does not live up to the dates from lands far away, which led me to look for for a high quality date in the US. My search led me to a Indio, California which is about 23 miles southeast of Palm Springs, where Shields Date Garden is a major draw for locals and tourists alike. Read more
Among Friends Hand-Crafted Baking Mixes
Walk down the baking aisle of any grocery store and notice there is more shelf space devoted to mixes than raw ingredients which could be good (if whole grains, natural ingredients, and real spices are used) or bad (if the ingredients include white flour, artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives), People are busy so boxed mixes have a place – albeit a big place – in our lives but we don’t have to sacrifice nutrition and taste for time if Among Friends Hand-crafted Baking Mixes are chosen because these mixes are “free of all the bad stuff.” Read more
Matt’s Munchies
Ever wonder why fruit roll-ups/leathers can’t be made with fruit and natural ingredients? Chef Roberts did and decided to create healthy, organic, gluten-free, vegan certified, and kosher fruit leathers without artificial additives, colors, and preservatives. How you ask? By using organic great tasting fresh fruit to make flavorful squares of pure dehydrated mango, banana, and apricot puree. Read more
Fruit Bliss
Fruit Bliss is a family of preservative-free, soft and moist dried fruit that is juicy and delicious. Made only with non-GMO fruit and water, these naturally sweet fruits are loved by both adults and kids and are a healthy alternative to dried fruit that has been preserved with sulfites. You won’t find any hard, powdery, or overly chewy pieces of dried fruit in Fruit Bliss because real pieces of dried fruit rehydrated with water ensures that every bite of Fruit Bliss is an all natural, pure and healthy snack. There are no added sweeteners, artificial colors or flavors added to this gluten-free nutritious snack food. Read more
Food Websites: The A to Z Quick Reference Guide
Many readers have asked for a list of the food websites I rely on so when I found myself e-mailing numerous links, I realized I needed to make a quick reference guide. No pretty pictures or descriptive write-ups, just the links. All of the foods listed below have been written about on this website (and more than likely, photographed also) so if you want detailed information on a specific product, utilize the search function on the cover page or use the category bars, which are also on the cover page of this website to find detailed product information and photographs. Read more
The Chocolate Covered Strawberry
Six pounds of fresh strawberries were staring at me on the kitchen counter and although I popped one of those luscious red fruits into my mouth every time I walked by, I was still faced with a mountain of ripe strawberries by late afternoon. With very little time to make dessert, I opted to make a family favorite: Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Using two 3.5 ounce Dark 70% Green & Black’s Organic Chocolate Bars (although I also use a 9.5 ounce bag of Dove Dark Chocolate Silky Smooth Promises from time to time) , there were 50 chocolate covered strawberries chilling in the refrigerator within 30 minutes. Read more
Paddock Post 