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 
Where Does $100 to Compassion International Go?
Compassion International, Inc. (CI) is a Colorado Springs, Colorado based 501 (c) (3) engaged in Christian ministry to “release children from their economic, social, physical, and spiritual poverty.” With 1,181 employees, CI is one of the largest US charities (although the organization primarily operates internationally) raising $800 million annually and spending most funds on grants to foreign organizations and individuals. 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
The Flipside 4 Wallet
Wallets haven’t changed that much in decades. Most are made of leather with a windowed section for a driver’s license or personal identification, slats for credit cards (and the multitude of store loyalty cards) and often a coin or zippered section to place receipts. When you think about what a wallet is meant to do: carry and protect some of your most valuable personal effects – driver’s license, credit cards, and cash – then you may begin to wonder why wallets haven’t kept pace with the technological changes that protect our personal identity and define our daily lives? Read more
The Perfect Gift: This Is Water
David Foster Wallace – the author of Infinite Jest, The Pale King, and Consider the Lobster- was not known as a dispenser of advice but in 2005 when he gave the commencement address (a speech that is most often associated with giving recent grads one last dose of advice) at Kenyon College entitled This is Water, he nailed it.
Standing in front of an audience of 22-year olds and their proud families, Wallace didn’t tell the graduates to follow their passion or dreams; instead he told the audience how important it is to live a compassionate life where we consider the people around us instead of ourselves. The words make the pursuit of happiness seem so easy (just be considerate!) but when you really think about the daily processes that define our lives, it’s not so simple because we’re not hard-wired to think of anyone but ourselves most of the time. 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
Cars Helping Veterans (Others First, Inc): Donor Beware
A few days ago the postman delivered an envelope called the Money Mailer whose back cover was covered with an advertisement (pictured below) for an organization called Cars Helping Veterans (www.carshelpingveterans.org) – an organization asking for car donations “to help our veterans” along with the statement “Your car donations support purple heart recipients, wounded warriors, homeless veterans, disabled veterans, paralyzed veterans, veterans and their families.” Read more
Where Does $100 to the Alliance Defending Freedom Go?
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) “is committed to transforming law and culture so true freedom can flourish” although there are many people who would disagree with this statement because the ADF advocates for religious freedom to uphold their idea of justice and preserve the right of certain people to freely live out their faith.
That this freedom results in the discrimination of others and infringes on the rights of women to choose what they want to do with their bodies doesn’t appear to matter to the ADF. It’s their religion, their faith and their definition of justice that trumps the rights of others. How ironic is it that ADF (a non-profit that relies on public donations) calls itself an alliance defending freedom but only defends the freedom of those who believe what they believe? Read more
Paddock Post 