Made the Old Fashioned Way

Dear GLEE GUM,

Thank you for your all natural ingredients, a gum base that conserves the rainforest instead of ruining its beauty, all your delicious flavors and your good looking mascot. As an avid gum chewer I like to grab a piece of gum to hold me over, freshen my breath or just have something to chew on. I really appreciate that you have no preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners and that you are all natural. I really enjoy your spearmint, cinnamon, tangerine, triple berry, bubble gum and “wee glee” (mini-fruit flavored gum bits). You are so yummy, I am hooked! Keep up the good work. Oh and you fellow eco-foodies—grab some gum you can feel good about!

Bonus-- Glee Gum has added a giveaway to the mix! Here is what is up for grabs:

1 Mini Glee Variety pack (21 4-piece) & a coupon

Trust me you want this, Glee Gum is delicious. So how do you win? Shoot me an email and tell me what flavor sounds the best to you, follow my blog and cross your fingers. The winner will be picked at random next Friday 10/14.

Presence. Planet. Prosperity.

Its no secret that I LOVE my chocolate! Given the opportunity to try Endangered Species chocolate and of course I was all over it. Not only do they make rich, creamy and dreamy chocolate they are "a mission-driven company that is passionate about chocolate and the environment.   We are fully committed to providing premium, all-natural, ethically traded, naturally shade grown chocolate products.  Endangered Species Chocolate confirms that all beans used in its products are purchased from family-owned properties where the income benefits the community.  10% of our net profits are donated to fund species and habitat conservation efforts.  Savor chocolate.  Save our planet." Now that is some chocolate you can feel good about eating and even better about buying. AND you might even learn something along the way (their wrappers are filled with facts relating to their mission of saving the endangered species and habitats). But back to the chocolate-- they have a huge array of chocolates to satisfy even the worst sweet tooth from bars to confections and even gift boxes. I sampled the bars, I will focus on my two favorites:
Dark Chocolate with Cranberries and Almonds. Amazing and unique combo mixing the tartness of the cranberries, smoothness of the almonds and richness of the dark chocolate all came together perfectly. LOVED this bar.

Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint: WOWOWOW. This was my very favorite bar. Deep, dark chocolate with a hint of refreshing mint. The simpleness of this bar allowed me to really appreciate the quality of their chocolate and they did the mint just right, not overpowering-- just right.

The great part is you should have no problem finding these bars yourself in your natural foods stores. I see them all over now that I am looking!

Taste Testing

Last week I got a very generous package from Newman's Own Organics with a lot of items in it that I have never tried before and probably would not have picked up myself but I am always happy to venture outside my box a bit. Tonight we (me, S.O., S.O.'s cousin and date) sampled the NOO's licorice line.

Black: Chewy black licorice-- everyone liked it, I do not love standard black so its not fair to ask me!

Strawberry: YUM! I could eat this one for a living.

Pomegranate: Chewy, tart and sweet.

Tangerine: WOW-- the name did not excite me but wow was this great, it tasted more orange to me but was sweet and seriously addicting!

Indulging is FUN!

Do you love fudge? Read on! I was able to try Grandma Ruby’s signature fudge creations this weekend. I received a sampler box and it was definitely fudge worth raving about! Each decadent flavor that I unwrapped tasted just like the description and more. I tried Caramel Almond Cheesecake, Raspberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Turtle, Butter Pecan, Cookies N Cream, Lemon Meringue Cheesecake, Caramel Apple, Chocolate, Maple, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Heath English Toffee and Butter Cream with Walnuts. Yes, I did try each and every flavor! They were all heavenly. Jumping onto Grandma’s website you will see that on top of each of those luscious flavors they have so much more to offer—toffee, chocolate covered sunflower seeds, diabetic treats, moose poop, bear poop (go check out the “poops” for yourself) and coffee/ teas. If I had to pick a favorite it would be a tight race between the Chocolate Turtle, Cookies N Cream, Chocolate Peanut butter and the Heath English Toffee. The Chocolate Turtle won my heart though! Grandma Ruby’s fudge is made with the finest real ingredients which made up with classic chocolate, melted caramel combo topped with pecans. Just check out the picture, then place your order online. Order just one pound now and they will send you a bag of chocolate covered sunflower seeds for free.

Producing the Finest

Toffee, toffee, and more great toffee. Vern’s Toffee House sent me a sampling of their one of a kind California almond toffee. The toffee looked so nice I wasn’t sure if I should even eat it!!!! HA yeah right, once I ate one piece I kept eating and ate the entire box. I think the ingredient that makes Vern’s Toffee so mouth watering and rich is the fresh sweet cream butter they use. Try out Vern’s for yourself; you don’t know what you’re missing.

Gluten Free and Kosher Candy….

If you have any allergies to certain products, or you are Vegan, or only eat kosher products. Then you will be extremely excited when I tell you that Illinois Nut and Candy company has you in mind. They have all sorts of nuts, chocolates, and candy that are casein free, food dye free, gluten free, organic, lactose free, sugar free, and vegan friendly. I got to try a variety of their rich and creamy chocolates and my favorite roasted cashews and almonds that are to die for. They also sent me a bag of caramel corn. Let me tell you being pregnant I have tried things that I never thought I would and I have been mixing caramel corn with cheese popcorn and boy oh boy is it ever good. So I took the caramel corn that Illinois Nut and Candy send me and mixed it with some cheese popcorn from the store and it was delicious. I do want to mention that the caramel corn is lactose free for those of you who were curious. They have over 50 different items to choose from take a minute to peek at there website you will not be disappointed.

A little candy now and then never hurt anyone!

When I want to really indulge in some great chocolate I usually turn to chocolate coated something or another. Recently, I was able to get my hands on some of this Milk Chocolate coated Almond Toffee by Enstroms. Talk about rich, buttery and chocolately! This candy has it ALL and then some—I think it is their attention to detail and using the finest natural ingredients for candy making out there. I love that the ingredient list is so short for their toffee using only: almonds, butter, sugar, milk chocolate and salt. Simple and delicious describes this treat. Another bonus? They have their toffee cut into little portion controlled pieces so you know just when to stop (helpful for people like myself).

Peter Rabbit

The easter bunny sent me an early present! Okay—so it wasn’t the easter bunny but really Marich Confectionary company but it sure seemed like the easter bunny had arrived early with a huge array of treats! They have a ton of candy on their website and all of it is top quality and packaged beautifully for gift giving or just to enjoy yourself. It is rare that you eat jelly beans but with their gourmet flavors you will want to eat them year round (order online and you can).

Lets get down to the chocolates! Marich Confectionary makes the best selection of sugar-free chocolates that I have ever seen and some of the best I have ever tasted. I was lucky enough to try the Sugar free dark chocolate espresso beans, Sugar free milk chocolate caramels, sugar free double dipped chocolate coated macadamias and last but not least sugar free mocha almonds. All were delectable and I would never know they were sugar free—just gourmet chocolates. I consider myself a chocolate connoisseur and know these are some of the best!

Lick This!

Licorice made by a father/son duo who have found the meaning of life—and its their very own licorice—they declare it as the “World’s Best”! I have to agree. RJ’s Licorice is soft, fresh and comes in either traditional black or raspberry in a variety of shapes and sizes. No matter how they configure it, it is fantastic. Considering myself a licorice connoisseur I thought I had tried it all but it might be their raspberry licorice that really makes me think it might be the best in the world. The raspberry is different than other fruit licorices by not having that artificial berry flavor to it. Its berry flavor is subtle and tastes natural, its hard to explain you will just have to try it for yourself! The traditional also was amazing—I loved how soft it was and the licorice flavor was just right, not too overpowering.