Youngevity Healthy Chocolate: Chocolate's Best Kept Secret

Healthy Chocolate or more specifically Healthy Triple Treat Chocolate is the chocolate you've probably never heard of. That's why I'm calling it chocolate's best kept secret. What makes it stand apart from all the other great chocolate out there? The answer would be in the health benefits that have been added to it.

Let's start off with the blueberries that have been added to Youngevity's Triple Treat Chocolate. Blueberries are super packed with powerful antioxidants. Antioxidants of course fight health compromising free-radicals that occur in our bodies and cause disease. Not only that but blueberries are been reported to improve vision, clear the arteries, strengthen blood vessels, enhance memory, stop urinary tract infections, reverse age related physical & mental declines, & promote weight control. It's obvious that blueberries are a powerful health benefit added to Triple Treat Chocolate and then some. Are you concerned that you might taste the blueberries in Triple Chocolate? No worries, the only thing you'll taste is the deliciousness of the chocolate.

Probably just as equally health sustaining as the blueberries being added to Triple Treat Healthy Chocolate is the probiotics that have also been added. Probiotics are very simply live micro-organisms that are in many common foods such as yogurt that provide beneficial bacteria to the intestines. People all over are starting to see the benefits of consuming probiotics as part of their balanced diets. This comes in the form of not only intestinal health but in improved immune function, healthy blood pressure & cholesterol levels. Triple Treat Chocolate suspends this probiotic powerhouse in their chocolate so it will pass its benefits on to you. It's claimed that this is a higher pass through rate than just eating yogurt!

Triple Treat Chocolate is not found in stores but if you're interested in trying Triple Treat Healthy Chocolate click here where you can get 30% discount on this product or any nutritional product offered on (www.energy2live.my90forlife.com) FOR LIFE by signing up FOR FREE to be a preferred customer! By the way the link to sign up to be preferred customer can be found at the top of the page where it says Join & Save 30%.

It's important to tell you that Triple Treat Chocolate is only 1 of 3 varieties of Healthy Chocolate that Youngevity offers which includes Triple Truffle Chocolate & TLC Liquid Chocolate. Check out these other awesomely delicious Healthy Chocolate Selections where you can also order Triple Treat Chocolate together with Triple Truffle Chocolate in a combo pack.

Review of Wild Ophelia: Peanut Butter & Banana Milk Chocolate Bar

As you all know, I love chocolate, and I'm all for trying new and exotic chocolate combinations.  However, I must say, this wasn't my favorite.  Don't get me wrong, it was good chocolate, and I would love to try another variety of chocolate that Wild Ophelia offers.  I love that the fact that these chocolate bars are all natural, and made here in the US.

I also liked the inside of the box, it was fun to look at!

All in all, the chocolate was good, and I'd love to give their Smokehouse BBQ Potato Chips dark chocolate bar a try, but the peanut butter & banana is not one that I would probably get again.

Chocolate Covered Candied Orange Peel

Recently over at our sister blog, Off The Menu, we had a Christmas in July event.  Yes, I made a whole Christmas dinner.  As facebook fan asked me to make fig pudding.  Now I have never had, let alone make, a fig pudding.  But after learning what goes into this traditional English Christmas treat, I decided that I would like to add my own touch by including some chocolate covered candied orange peel in the pudding (which is more like cake than pudding.) Sweet, delicious, simple to make, and covered in chocolate, what could be better?


Ingredients:

• 1 navel orange
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Steps:

Peel the orange in as little pieces as you can.

Eat the orange, or save it for later.

Slice the orange peel into 1/3" wide by 2" long strips.

In 1/2 water boil the orange peels for 2 minutes.

Drain the orange peels.

Boil 1/2 water with the 3/4 cup sugar until the sugar dissolves.

Add the orange peels, and boil for 15-20 minutes.

Line a cookie tray with wax paper, and in a single layer, lay out the orange peels.

Allow the orange peels to dry for at least 1 hour.

In a double boiler melt the chocolate chips.

Put the orange peels in the chocolate and completely cover the peels with the chocolate. 

Use a fork to place each orange peel on a wax paper lined tray.

Place the try in the fridge, and allow to dry for 1 hour.

Remove the peels from the wax paper, and keep in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Simple as that!  Now that you have chocolate covered candied orange peels you can use them as a fun garnish, or eat them as a little after dinner treat.

Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate With Whole Hazelnuts

There is no doubt that some of the best chocolate comes from Europe, more specifically, Germany.  A German chocolate bar that is well worth the time is Ritter Sport.  Recently, I went on a chocolate shopping spree at the new Trader Joe's that has popped up here, and a dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts Ritter Sport was among my loot.  Now, I have had another variety before.  I have had the Butter Biscuit kind before, and that was so good, I just couldn't wait to give the hazelnut a try.  I must say that I was not disappointed!  This was sure a chocolate craving satisfier; it was smooth, dark, sweet, and very crunchy. Also, the dark chocolate was not overpowering and complimented the hazelnuts perfectly! Not only would I get this particular bar again, but I would love to try the other varieties available!

On a more personal side note, when I took a bite out of this chocolate bar for the first time, childhood came flooding back. I'm not kidding. Its been over two decades since I used sell a hazelnut chocolate bars door to door to raise money for school fundraisers. I would get my parents to buy from my own stash just so I could savor the hazelnut mixed with the smooth chocolate because it was a real treat. I had not had this memory ever in my life as I forgot all about it until I taste tested the Ritter Sport for this review. It's amazing how something such as a taste of a particular chocolate bar that you have not had since childhood can trigger memories of long ago. 

Trader Joe's The Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar

It was nice taking short break from all that very powerful dark chocolate for awhile. In my previous post the break from all this dark chocolate craziness came in the form of Trader Joe's Almond Clusters made out of the always sweet milk chocolate. As you can see, those almond clusters weren't the only thing I got my hands on at Joe's. Yes, I couldn't help myself, this is one out of three chocolate goodies I picked up during my brief Trader Joe's snack shopping spree. Which by the way, I suggest you try sometime especially if you have a little extra money to spend. I have to be honest with you, it makes for a very fun time loading a basket up with goodies and then tearing into them on the way home.

How fitting for this particular chocolate bar: The orange pear shaped art found on the wrapper represents the Cocoa pod from which the cocoa beans come from!

This particular chocolate bar from Trader Joe's was appropriately named the Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar. Appropriate because you have to be a real dark chocolate lover to enjoy this very powerful tasting piece of chocolate. To relate just how powerful tasting it was, I drink my coffee black as night in the morning with no sugar or cream and on top of that, it's dark roast that I make very strong. However, the taste in my mouth from taking a bite from this dark chocolate bar was 20x more bitter to my taste buds than my morning coffee routine. I could barely handle it! That's not to suggest that this dark chocolate is not bad in any way, shape, or form, just not my cup of tea. Someone out there, who is a fan of dark chocolate might get a lot of enjoyment out of it and find the taste extremely enlightening to their sweet tooth.

Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of dark chocolate, if you really want to give the Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate Bar a shot, I highly suggest consuming it after a very spicy meal because I can see it complimenting that spicy after taste to the 9th degree. Just be warned though, the dark chocolate found in this bar is some of the darkest you can get being at 85% Cacao and is not your typical run of the mill dark chocolate as it is much more bitter tasting.

Just to explain what cacao is, it's a seed or cocoa bean from the Theobroma cacao also known as the cocoa tree native to South America. From these cocoa beans they produce chocolate and use more or less depending on what they want the cocoa content to be. Hence this particular bar contains 85% Cacao which is obviously extremely potent on the scale for which they measure the cocoa bean content of what goes into chocolate.

I may of not enjoyed this bar but I did appreciate the intricate design of the chocolate bar which had little flower like creations on them and was cut very fine. There is a lot of beauty to behold in chocolate especially chocolate bars where we can appreciate the work of art and originality of every piece of chocolate even if the taste is not to our liking. 

Trader Joe's Almond Clusters

After consuming so much dark chocolate over the last couple of posts, I've decided to bring balance back to the force. How? Simply by indulging in some good ol' milk chocolate almond clusters. Not just any almond clusters mind you, only the best from Trader Joe's did the job.

Fortunately this came to be by the fact that they just opened one of these ever popular Trader Joe's in Ft Worth Texas. This Trader Joe phenomenon has gained traction over the past couple of years and for a good reason. They are not any grocery store down the street and they shouldn't even be considered grocery stores but called little pieces of foodie heaven. I digress, but I will point out that if you're lucky to be within 50 to 100 miles and you think of yourself as even part foodie, then go by all means and check out the Joe's. It's well worth the trip!

Getting back to the clusters, as one of the first products I brought from my first Trader Joe's experience (along with kettle korn, more chocolate, cookies, wine, soda, wasabi almonds and more chocolate) I couldn't of been happier with them. The milk chocolate was great quality as it was very smooth and creamy. When I bit into these I was met with perfect chewiness texture along with the crunch of the almonds. Wow! Amazing! I was already fan of almond clusters before but I fell in love with them just a little more with having traded up from them at Trader Joe's.

 If you're going to Trader Joe's for the first time or have been and passed these chocolate gems up, then on your next trip, I highly recommend you put them into your basket. On one last note, if you read the label on the package that these are natural which is always a good thing. No wonder they were so fresh and sweet to the last crunch! 

Green & Black's Organic Chocolate

A while ago I went to one of my favorite stores, Sprouts, and I decided to indulge in a chocolate bar.  Not just any ol' chocolate bar, but a Green & Black's Organic 60% Dark Chocolate Mint Bar.  I do enjoy my chocolate, really enjoy it, but there are those pieces of chocolate that are just way to good to scarf down, it needs to be savored and appreciated.  I have successfully perfected the art of savoring chocolate, and a good sized chocolate bar, like Green and Black's bar, can last me a month.  I thoroughly enjoyed this bar.  The dark chocolate was rich and inviting, and the mint was subtle and refreshing.  I will definitely give the other intriguing varieties of Green and Black's a try, and I would definitely recommend this chocolate to any one who loves chocolate.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn

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Popcorn is good by itself but even better when it's turned into gourmet heaven. That's exactly what I did to a batch of fresh made on the stove popcorn the other night. Afterwards, the night was complete because what else is there after eating popcorn that's part milk chocolate and part chunky peanut butter? On second thought there could be a good movie to go with it but that's besides the point.

Ingredients:

• 12 cups of popped popcorn (stove top is recommended, I used a hand crank popcorn pot)
• 2 tablespoons of Kernel Season's Kettle Corn mix 
• 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup of light corn syrup
• 2 cups of brown sugar 
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups of chunky peanut butter
• dash of salt 

Pop about 12 cups of popped popcorn but before it pops add about 2 tablespoons of Kernel Season's Kettle Corn mix to give the popcorn an extra coating so it holds up better.

In a large pot combine 2 cups of brown sugar, 3/4 cups of corn syrup, and 2 sticks of unsalted butter.

Bring the brown sugar, light corn syrup, and sticks of butter to a boil for about 3 minutes (above) and when it's about 2 minutes into boiling add 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips  (below).

The chocolate chips are enveloped into a sweet gooey vortex of goodness.

Stir the mix a little when the chocolate chips are almost completely melted.

After the mix has boiled for about 3 minutes in all, take it off the heat and stir until smooth.

In a large pyrex bowl or dish pour the boiled chocolate mix onto the popcorn. This process takes a little time but it's important to toss until all the popcorn kernels are evenly coated with the chocolate and bake in the oven at 300 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. Afterwards, add a dash of salt to the mix for taste. You're now baked chocolate popcorn mix should look like the image above after all this. Let this mix cool for about 30 minutes.

Melt 1 1/2 cups of chunky peanut butter the microwave until it's smooth and able to be poured.

Pour the chunky peanut butter over the popcorn and repeat the whole tossing process until the peanut butter evenly coats all the popcorn just like you did with the chocolate. Let it sit for over an hour in the refrigerator to ensure maximum goodness.

When you're finally able to taste your chocolate peanut butter popcorn creation you'll know that the time you put into it was well worth it. Worth it because this popcorn is just as good as any popcorn you could get at a gourmet popcorn shop. Trust me, I love frequenting those places and would do so over and over but I'm thankful that I'm able to create gourmet popcorn at home that is comparable.

Although, don't take my word it. Try this chocolate recipe at home and it's safe to say that you'll find yourself enjoying the caramelized taste of the chocolate, combined with the smoothness of the peanut butter, mixed with the nuttiness of the chunky, and the crunchy of the popcorn.

Coffee Infused Homemade Chocolate Syrup

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I love chocolate syrup.  I love it in milk, on top of ice cream, straight out of the bottle... oh the possibilities are endless!  I hate that it is hard to find without undesirable added ingredients (i.e. high fructose corn syrup.)  When I do find those that don't contain what I don't want it to have in it, it costs way to much.  Up until recently, I'd never even thought of making it myself.  But it is possible, and every bit as delicious!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Handful of whole coffee beans

Steps:

In a medium to large sauce pan wisk together the cocoa powder, water, sugar, vanilla and salt over medium-low.

When everything is combined, add the whole coffee beans.

Wisk constantly.

Allow mixture to boil for a minute or two, then remove it from the heat.

Pour the chocolate into a bowl, and place it in the refrigerator.  At this point the mixture will be quite thin, it will thicken some as it cools.

Allow the syrup to cool completely.

Once cool, remove the coffee beans with a spoon.

Transfer the syrup into a bottle (I poured mine into a nice olive oil bottle) and store it in the fridge.

Mmmm.... wonderful, rich, homemade syrup without the unwanted added junk.

Pour the syrup

Sugar And Spice: Xocolatl

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Dagoba Organic Chocolate makes a whole line of quality chocolate bars.  Among the different varieties that are available is the Xocolatl bar.  The Xocolatl bar is made of organic dark chocolate, Cacao Nibs and infused with chili powder, nutmeg oil, and citrus oil.  I must admit, I was quite skeptical of this combination of chili powder and chocolate.  I have heard of interesting combinations that chocolatiers have come up with before, but I have never tried them before.

For my first taste of this unique chocolate bar, I popped a small piece in my mouth for fear being overwhelmed by the chili powder.  I wasn't too thrilled with this combination.  But the more that I tasted it, the more I liked it.  It, like most spicy things, is strangely addicting.  Now, this is not the type of chocolate bar that you devour as you're watching a movie.  I liked it best when eaten in little bitty pieces as a small afternoon pick-me-up or as a post-dinner treat.

When you take a bite of this chocolate, the first thing you taste is the smooth dark chocolate, its not until the chocolate is gone that the spice comes back to give you a swift kick in the taste buds.  The spice lingers for a while, and packs a punch that makes you keep coming back for more!

If you're not a fan of dark chocolate, this is not the chocolate bar for you.  As with some dark chocolate, it is not very sweet like a milk chocolate bar (this is because the cacao percentage is high.)  But lucky for you Dagoba does sell a Milk Bar as well.

I look forward to trying the other flavor combinations, as well as, the chocolate drink mixes, and baking products that Dagoba Organic Chocolate has to offer!