Sweet Find: Super Lemony Lemon Bites

I'm back!  Well, not really.  I guess you could say I am just stopping by to say hello and give a quick update on life/ shout out to something fabulous I found.

Can you believe it has been more than 10 days that I have done anything in the kitchen?  Sad for me, I know.  But what I have been up to has been worth it.

First stop?  Colorado.  One of my best friends tied the knot this past weekend.  Pretty bride, handsome groom, lovely day in the Rockies... what more could you ask for?  What a fantastic weekend!

But the traveling did not end there. Oh no, not even close.  And it is fun.  But let me just say this: Man cannot live on restaurants alone, and so I took my summer colleagues to one of my favorite places:

That's right, Trader Joe's.  Man, if I could just have a house with the farmers' market on my left and Trader Joe's on my right I would be the happiest camper of all.  So happy to have found my lifeline while I am far from home!

Which brings me to my post today.  A fab find, from the best store around.

I could go on and on about how awesome Trader Joe's is, but you really don't want to hear it.  So let me focus on one thing today: real ingredients, freshly made.

These lemon bites come home to you from Trader Joe's, but the truth is they first come from a local bakery in the area, that way they are fresh and do not require any preservatives to stay that way.  And the ingredient list?  Cane sugar, unbleached flour, eggs, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, tapioca syrup, lemon juice, kosher salt, baking powder, pure lemon oil, pure vanilla extract, and citric acid.  In other words?  A sigh of relief because you know what?  I have those ingredients in my cupboard at home.  And that is important to me.

And the taste?  Well, it is super lemony, yet very sweet, and kind of addictive.  I should probably hide the these before I eat them all in one sitting.  Since they are made fresh they must be eaten in a few days... so maybe it isn't that bad of an idea if I just eat them all before they go bad ;)

COST: $3.99 for 24 bites

My Confession... (Cocoa Almond Spread)

I have a confession to make.  And it may shock you.

Are you ready?

I have never ever, not even once, tried Nutella.

I hear your gasp all the way over here.  I warned you that it may shock you.

I know, I know.  I have no excuse really.  Truthfully, I didn't even know it existed until a few years ago when my students were bringing it with their fruit for snack or lunch.  Even then, I just thought it was some new-fangled kid food, like Crustables.  But then I started noticing people making references to it and its apparent amazingness on Facebook.  It didn't really phase me though, I had lived twenty-some years without it, and I figured I was doing just fine.  Others didn't think so, but I did.

Then I saw a recipe that called for it.  There it was -- my excuse to finally give in and try it.  I headed out to do my grocery shopping with "Nutella" scribbled on my list.  Right after a stop at Trader Joe's I was going to dash over to Safeway to pick some up... but you know how Trader Joe's is, right?  They have these yummy samples all the time.  And my local TJ's doesn't just have one, but they always serve two samples, plus coffee and tea.  (Are you starting to see why I have a love affair going on with them?)  And guess what one of the samples was that day?  Yup, you got it.  The Trader Joe's version of Nutella, served up with pretzels.

 
Creamy, sweet, and chocolately, it was delicious.  I crossed Nutella off my list and grabbed one of these off the shelf, tossing it into my cart.  Basically, from what I found out via those who have studied this intensely (and there are quite a few, surprisingly) the main difference is that Nutella is made with hazelnuts while Trader Joe's Cocoa Almond Spread is made with, you guessed it, almonds.  Calorie-wise they are about the same, both contain no artificial colors/flavors or preservatives, and they are both the same price, at least in my neck of the woods.  But you know what this one has over the other, at least for me?  Convenience.  As you know, I am a shopper of TJ's and if I can get it all in one spot for a low price, why not? 

You know what this means?  I have still never tried Nutella.  Maybe I will someday, maybe I won't.  But I will enjoy chocolately spread because it is so delicious.  How did I go this long without figuring that out?!

(Check back soon to see this bad-boy in action.)

Sweet Find: Coconut Water with Dark Chocolate

I think I have found the drink of all drinks:
Zico Pure Premium Coconut Water with Dark Chocolate.

(Whew -- that was quite a mouthful!)

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Have you ever had coconut water?  I mean, the real stuff, like cut-the-top-off-of-the-coconut-and-stick-a-straw-into-it coconut water?  It tastes nothing like you would expect.  When I think of coconuts, I think of the stuff that comes in the candy bars.  Sweet.  But that is not what coconut water tastes like.  The first time I tried it I hated it.  Hated it.  But over time it grew on me and now I am a fan.  And my body is a fan, too.  Coconut water is so incredibly healthy, filled with all kinds of electrolytes your body needs.  But alas, I do not have any coconut trees in my neighborhood (sigh...) so I must stick to the packaged stuff.  Which is good, too.  But now I found something great...

Coconut water with dark chocolate!  YESSSS!  So maybe there is some sugar thrown in there.  Whatever.  I like sugar.  This stuff is amazing.  I am sure you can find it in many places, but of course I will promote my favorite:  it is a buck-99 at your local Trader Joe's.  Yup, less than the cost of chocolate milk in most places.  Sure is better for me than those Starbuck's-fraps-in-the-jars that I love (the taste of, if not the ingredients). 

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I think I have found my happy drink.  Move over Ovaltine and Silk.

October Unprocessed: Sweet Find -- Sour Cream

Usually I go for Knudsen sour cream.  You know the kind -- the good kind. 

I had a recipe tonight that called for sour cream, and I thought, "Really, how many ingredients can sour cream have in it?  I can totally use it [even with the October Unprocessed challenge]."  (Yeah, that last part was that kind of thought that you think without words, more like "mdpaibdg" but your brain knows exactly what you are thinking even though no actual words were thought.  However, for you Dear Reader, I know you have enough on your plate without having to read my mind, so I clarified for you.)

Well, you wanna know the ingredients in sour cream? 

Ingredients: CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A SKIM MILK AND MILK, DRIED CORN SYRUP, FOOD STARCH-MODIFIED, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF STARCH, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, CREAM**, MALTODEXTRIN, XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE. **TRIVIAL SOURCE OF FAT. CONTAINS: MILK.

I copied and pasted.  So there you have it.  No sour cream for me this month.  {Insert sad face here.}

Wait!  Not so fast!  Look what I found!

Yeah, that's right.  No artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, gums, starches, or stabilizers.  Normally I wouldn't go for fat free but they didn't have just regular.  Whatever.  The taste was good; fat free is never my favorite, but out of all the fat free sour creams I have ever tried, definitely the best.  Paulo thinks it tasted normal, no complaints.  And check out the ingredients list:

Ingredients: CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A NONFAT MILK, VITAMIN D

Sweet!  I was able to enjoy that dollop of sour cream on the top of my food.  It just makes everything better, you know?

And at only a buck-99 at your local TJ's, it is a pretty good deal, too.   (You know, I honestly believe Trader Joe's needs to start paying me commission...)