Check out MyFoodapedia for a pretty comprehensive food database brought to you by the USDA Center for Nutrition.
All you need to do is put the food you’re searching for in the search box and MyFoodapedia provides you with a list of potential matches to choose from. The site will also show you recipes that commonly include the searched-for ingredient.
At least the US gov is stepping in the right direction with this resource. Bravo!
Categories: food industry · health · life · web site
Tagged: Center for Nutrition, food database, food info search, myfoodapedia, USDA
We were recently given some gourmet food items for Christmas and I’d like to give my impression of two of these items. We prepared a dinner last night with the Flying Noodle brand of Italian Spice Linguini and Rosemary Balsamic Sicilian Sauce. I must say that I was really impressed with these two items and having not heard of the Flying Noodle, I was REALLY skeptical prior to the meal. Some quick research on the Flying Noodle yielded the fact that they have been in the gourmet gifts space since 1995; quite a long time to be viable on the web and associated with e-commerce / food items.
Now to the important part: TASTE. Linguini happens to be one of my favorite cuts of pasta, so this was an added detail I was up against when trying Flying Noodle for the first time. Well, I can tell you that the texture of this particular pasta was pretty amazing! Al dente is my preferred method of consuming pasta and this Linguini seemed like it could have boiled all day and retained its integrity. LOL! Seriously, it was smooth, yet dense and married very well with the Rosemary Balsamic Sicilian Sauce. I’m not a fan of jarred sauce due to the usual low quality, generic and overly sweet/processed flavor that I tend to conclude with, but this Flying Noodle sauce was excellent! The balsamic vinegar provided a nice contrast with the already slightly seasoned pasta and the rosemary that was also present within the sauce. It tasted surprisingly fresh and this was definitely unexpected.
In conclusion, I must admit that more times than not, the “gourmet” items given to me as a gift have been average and nothing more in taste than what I could find at any decent grocery store; I have actually felt pretty bad for the purchaser because of this fact and the reality that I am sure they paid a premium for the products that were not worthy of the gourmet label. In this case, I can tell you that I would definitely order Flying Noodle products based on this one meal with the idea that I would receive the same consistency that these two products provided our dinner with. 
Categories: product review
Tagged: flying noodle, gourmet, jarred pasta sauce, linguini, pasta
As a child, I REALLY enjoyed consuming Raisinets, but I try to be disciplined within my diet and candy is something I just don’t eat and have not for many years. I do LOVE dark chocolate though as well as raisins and was able to marry the two in order to satisfy the nagging urge to consume Raisinets and at least I’m getting some decent health benefit w/my version. LOL!
Categories: diy · quick tip · video
Tagged: candy, dark chocolate, diy candy, quick snack, raisinets, raisins
Some may look at this ad and be completely grossed out, but I challenge you to consider (internally) what the reality of a human being’s vascular/circulatory system and organs would look like by the constant abuse with soda and various other empty calorie, synthetic sugar-laden drinks.
Health is Wealth, ladies and gentlemen!
Part of the health crisis in the world is because of no control. Vote with your wallets and this will undoubtedly cause Coke, Pepsi and any other beverage company to adjust to the consumer who demands more of a healthy option.
Categories: food industry · health · life · quick tip · video
Tagged: ad, change your lifestyle, empty calories, fat, health is wealth, NYC health, soda
Anyone familiar with some of the main players within the packaged pasta world will certainly be aware of Delallo and their high quality products for adventurous home cooks across the US. I’ve recently discovered their blog. While the posting on the blog has not ramped up to a frequent pace, I am appreciative of its content and wanted to share a recent post just in time for the Christmas season.
As a Puerto Rican, I’ve enjoyed Bacalao for as long as I can remember and have consumed it in various preparations/styles. Of course, I am referring to the lovely fish known as Cod. Being married to an Italian, I was exposed to their version, known as Baccalà, in all of its flavorful goodness. I certainly do not need for it to be the Christmas season in order to feel the need to consume Cod, but in the name of tradition, I would like to direct you to view a blog post on the Delallo blog entitled: Baccalà: Step by Step. How to Prepare your Christmas Eve Baccala. Enjoy, have fun and make some memories.
Categories: blog · diy · fish · life · quick tip · web site
Tagged: pasta, delallo, fish, cod, baccala, bacalao, Christmas, holiday, christmas dinner, holiday meal, traditions, memories, italian traditions
Today’s product review comes from MaraNatha, the 25+ year old Nut Butter company that plays a starring role in health food stores and health food aisles across the land. If you consume nut butters outside of peanut, you likely have experienced the goodness that is MaraNatha. Whether it’s their Almond, Cashew or Tahini, this company does good work and I’ve been a fan for many years.
I was in Whole Foods two weeks ago and was checking out some of the nut butters and saw the MaraNatha Dark Chocolate Almond Spread and picked it up to read the ingredients. Of course, my first thought was that it was some sort of failed attempt to copy Nutella even though nutella is made with hazelnuts and not almonds. Just to be perfectly clear, I was not looking for another option for breakfast and thought about making the purchase. The thought was processed quickly and the subsequent purchase was made.
Tonight, my wife suggested we crack open the jar and see if it fell in line with the rest of the MaraNatha products we have enjoyed and continue to enjoy. Well, I can assure you that I was very much impressed with this product and its flavor profile. The marriage of dry roasted almonds, cocoa powder and evaporated cane juice is a great one and this product is not sweet at all; this is a good thing. The texture had a faint grittiness (from the ground almonds, of course) and was thicker than a typical nut butter. I think more sweetness would have made this product kind of gimmicky and cheap, but it was nowhere near that and after a small portion on a spoon to sample it, I melted (slightly) some of the spread in a small bowl and drizzled it over some Oatmeal-Brown Sugar Baked Apples that I made 2 nights ago and it was excellent!
I can imagine this product on a good quality vanilla ice cream or coconut gelato as well as drizzled over various cakes and cookies to enhance the overall flavor. In conclusion, the MaraNatha Dark Chocolate Almond Spread is one of the best products in the segment of nut butter / dark chocolate spread I have ever tasted and would HIGHLY recommend it.
Categories: life · product review
Tagged: almond spread, almonds, cocoa, dark chocolate, desserts, maranatha, maranatha nut butters, nut butters
Check out this slide-show at The Huffington Post. Pretty interesting. I’ve had 4 items on the list and would say that Saffron is probably the most “important” to our cooking. Good thing a few strands go a long way.
Categories: photo · web site
Tagged: expensive foods, photos, saffron, slide-show
