Back Roads Granola
After all these years, we are still Crunchy Granola People.
At the southeastern tip of Vermont is a town called Brattleboro where a family-owned bakery of self-described “crunchy granola people” makes some of the most delicious and nutritious granolas on the market.
Using only non-GMO certified organic ingredients, Back Roads Granola is also noteworthy for what they don’t use: sugar, salt, canola oil, and no wheat products (all the granolas are certified gluten-free). Instead, the company uses Vermont maple syrup and honey to add a slight sweetness to the granola along with a touch of sunflower oil. Read more 
Candy Bars by Nelly’s Organics
In my ongoing search for a healthier alternative to the sugary and additive filled confections offered in supermarkets, I came upon Nelly’s Organics: a line of scrumptious certified organic candy bars in the refrigerated section of a Fresh Market that sell for just $2.99 a bar (note: most certified organic chocolate bars cost two or three times as much). With no preservatives (which is why they are in the refrigerated section), additives, dyes, powders, fillers, by-products, nutritional supplements, or added stimulants, Nelly’s Organics contain real ingredients that have been certified organic. Read more
The How Not To Die Cookbook
When the groundbreaking book, How Not To Die was published in December, 2015 by Dr. Michael Greger, MD, who had no personal financial stake in book sales because all of the proceeds are donated to charity (www.nutritionfacts.org), the public took notice putting the book on the New York Times Bestseller List instantly and keeping it there for more than a year. Read more
The Silvermoon Medicine Ball
Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Let Us Celebrate Life’s Sweetness
Most great ideas and products spring from the mind of someone forward thinking which is exactly how the Silvermoon Medicine Ball came about. With the knowledge that food is medicine – particularly raw living food – and a reverence for the cacao plant and other superfoods, Stacey Aradhana Silvermoon created the ultimate nutritious and delicious raw and organic treat: the Silvermoon Medicine Ball. Read more
Cappello’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
If you want to taste the world’s finest (really, truly, honestly) grain-free, gluten-free, and vegan chocolate chip cookie dough, look to Cappello’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough – a roll of frozen cookie dough (think Slice and Bake but in a Michelin star sort of way) made with the most high quality ingredients (almond flour, organic Vermont maple syrup, dark chocolate morsels (unsweetened chocolate, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter), arrowroot flour, organic unrefined coconut oil, organic vanilla extract, coarse sea salt, and baking soda. Read more
Holiday Spinach Salad
Spinach Salad takes on a new twist this holiday season with the addition of fresh, organic roasted red beets. The dark green spinach leaves tossed with a light mustard maple salad dressing and then sprinkled with dark red beets, light green avocado pieces, lightly toasted pecan halves, and roasted pumpkin seeds makes for a nutritious and delicious lunch or dinner salad.
The Holiday Spinach Salad was inspired by Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipe for Roasted Yellow Beet Salad with Warm Maple-Mustard Dressing – a light summertime salad that I often make during the warm months. The Holiday Spinach Salad is a bit more substantial with the yellow beets replaced with red beets and the addition of fresh avocado chunks and crunchy pumpkin seeds – and the omission of red onion. Read more
Dardimans California Fruit Crisps
Looking for a heathy and delicious holiday gift? Check out Dardimans California Fruit Crisp selection: dehydrated fruit with no added sugar or preservatives. Naturally sweet, delicious, and crunchy, and with 13 fruits to choose from (orange, blood orange, mandarin orange, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, strawberry, Granny Smith apple, pear, peach, persimmon, tomato, and Hawaiian pineapple slices), Dardimans California Fruit Crisps offer something for everyone.
Enjoy the fruit crisps as is or add to your favorite cereal or granola. For a special treat dip half the fruit crisp in your favorite melted dark chocolate and allow to dry on a piece of parchment paper. Read more
Sigmund’s Pretzels
Pretzels are a part of the landscape of New York City and, yet all pretzels are not created equal. Those hard, dry and tasteless pretzels sold on virtually every street corner taste like cardboard and make people wonder what the fuss is all about. Surely New York can do better than that…and, they do but you have to know where to find them. Read more
Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Bark
One of the many traditions during the holiday season is to enjoy chocolate bark – a sheet of chocolate with nuts, dried fruits, pretzels, chips, or candy blended in. Although peppermint bark is one of the most popular treats during the holiday season, chocolate hazelnut bark or chocolate bark made with roasted hazelnuts is growing in popularity because the hazelnut (also known as a filbert) is naturally sweet with a rich, nutty, and versatile flavor that goes well with dark chocolate. Read more
Salted Galapagos Turtles
Chocolate caramel turtles – the unbeatable combination of roasted nuts combined with creamy caramel enrobed in chocolate) were one of three foods (the other two being a slice of cheese on my toasted bagel with lettuce, tomato, and red onion; and bread pudding) that made me think twice about changing my diet from vegetarian to completely plant-based.
I could certainly enjoy nuts and dark chocolate on a vegan diet but caramel which is typically made with milk and butter was out of the question. After much soul searching, I made the leap anyway and went through a brief period of mourning until I discovered Lagusta’s Luscious Salted Galapagos Turtles – which turned out to be better than the chocolate turtles I gave up! Read more
Paddock Post 