What’s Your Flavor?

If you like trying new things and consider yourself a “foodie” step into a whole new world with Black Star Gourmet. They specialize in the most discriminating tastes all offered in an online store. The selections are very extensive ranging from the healthy indulgences to the truly rich and divine splurges. One thing you can be assured of is the quality of their products and the high level of customer service you will be getting. I am taste testing some of their more health conscious items that you can make a part of your everyday feasts.

Foods offered at Black Star Gourmet are the best of the best collected from all around the world. Even with the selection seen above some of it was foreign to me. What I was most excited to try was the Grapeseed Oil. I have read about Grapeseed Oil and know that it is truly a “specialty” item since the oil is extracted from grapes but oil in very small amounts thus taking a whole lot of grapes to produce the oil. I was surprised when I tasted the oil and it had a nutty flavor to it. I know you can use it to cook but I tossed my salad in it and added a few seasonings. The oil is polyunsaturated and contains the compound linoleic acid.
The Green Tea Forte was just amazing. We all know the health benefits that come from drinking green tea. This tea tasted very fresh, pure and seeped quickly. I have been trying to eliminate any coffee consumption and find myself craving Tea Forte in the morning now!
The other Black Star Gourmet delicacy that I have tried from my selection was the Olives. These were not just ANY olives- not at all. These olives are called Natural Meski Olives & Harissa. They are fine French olives pickled in extra virgin olive oil and spiced with Harissa- a traditional North African condiment made with garlic, chili peppers and spices giving it a little heat. I love spicy, I love olives and I just loved these.

Have a Heart

The Mediterranean style of cooking really is all the rage and for good reason. For a long time everything was fat-free and all we heard about was the negative effects of fats in our diet. FATS ARE CRUCIAL, everyone MUST understand this. You must also understand what KIND of fats. Mezzetta offers a wide variety of products and many of those fit into the good fats category and a selection of items that can help you cook more like a Mediterranean! (ppssst—check out their website for a slew of great recipes). If you choose to go the Mediterranean way you will be delighted to learn that your healthy diet is made up of staples like fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, grains and has room for olive oils, cheese, yogurts and even red wine! Look for more delicious information on Mezzetta’s website. When you are there check out their online gourmet market which will delight your senses with choices like Imported and Domestic Peppers, Roasted Peppers, Fancy Stuffed Olives, Olive Oil, Imported Capers, Specialty Cocktail additions, Pickled Vegetables, Pastas, Deli Items and even Gift Baskets. All of their items come packed in glass jars sealing them fresh and keeping them delicious. I was able to try the Artichoke Hearts and Roasted Red Peppers so far. The Artichoke Hearts were simply the best I have ever had. Slightly spiced, soft and perfectly prepared. The Roasted Red Peppers were unlike anything I could have imagined. I have never had anything like it but they were truly a guilt-free TREAT. They were long strips of Red Bell Peppers grilled to perfection and jarred so I didn’t have to do the work. I could not believe how good these WERE (yes, gone). I ate a couple straight out of the jar and made a Roasted Red Pepper fajita with the rest. Here is all I had to do to make the fajita and it rivaled any restaurants—that is for sure!

Easy Fajita Mezzetta style
4 strips of Mezzetta roasted red peppers
Handful of Mushrooms
Handful of onion strips
Meat, Tofu or Tempeh of choice (I had faux meat strips)
Lettuce
Guac if desired
Salsa
Pre-cook the meat if you are using chicken or steak etc… If not, I just tossed the meat strips, mushrooms and onions together in a pan with a bit of water and let it cook until hot. I added the red peppers and let it all get warm and plopped into a tortilla, topping with remaining ingredients. It was so good and I attribute this to the peppers!

Olive Juice

I love olives- big, small- stuffed, pitted, green, black, exotic, spiced, with oil, gourmet just give them to me! Lindsay Olives has SO many varieties I was SHOCKED. I actually didn’t know there were so many kinds of olives available. On their website I saw green, black, garlic, Italian, Spanish, Nutty, Cocktail style and on and on! So if you are olive fan this is the website for you. They have all different ideas for courses to pair them with, recipes etc. Very interactive, cool website but onto the good stuff—the olives. Wow were these ever fantastic, last night I opened the standard black (my favorite) olive. I was very impressed with the stay fresh container and the easy packaging the little guys came in. They did taste unbelievably fresh and delicious even though they were remarkably simple (not a bunch of additives). A good snack while I am making dinner, in my lunches, on my salads etc… I still have the green ripe, black ripe, large black and Italian varieties to eat. You jealous?!