Damian Allsop CH2OCOLATES Cinnamon & Lemon (Cola) Compact Bar

When my sister-in-law visited London, she said she took great care in finding me a special treat as a souvenir. She's such a sweetheart, and she found the perfect thing: chocolate made without cream and butter! She picked up this bar with the help of a gracious employee at Liberty, and it was made by Damian Allsop Chocolates.

The idea that such a thing exists had never even occurred to me, but this chocolate is made with water. In addition, the flavor combination of lemon, cinnamon, and cola felt fresh and unique. The chocolate was a lovely taupe color, freckled with cinnamon and popping candy.


The chocolate itself was firm with a light, soft melt. The first flavor I tasted was a mildly sour lemon. As the white chocolate melted, its flavor emerged, along with a hint of cinnamon, reminding me of a cinnamon roll. The white chocolate was unlike any other white chocolate I've had. It wasn't too sweet, and had a rich vanilla flavor that went well with the cinnamon.

Finally, the cola flavor was present in crunchy popping candy. It had a fruity, cola flavor with a hint of molasses, and the gentle popping candy made for a fun finish. The chocolate wasn't sticky and had a clean finish. The CD-style shape and packaging were cute, but with a product this tasty and unique, it felt like a bit much; the chocolate spoke for itself.

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Damian Allsop Chocolates website

Coconut What?

Hey, wanna see something super freakin' cool? See that there vegan brunch plate from Memphis Taproom? That "bacon" is made from coconut chips — yes, coconut chips! — and it's got all the right smokey flavors and all-important crisp. I tell ya, it's akin to culinary voodoo.

I first heard about the technique of using coconut chips to make vegan bacon over on Vegan Brew. It sort of blew my mind, and I'm not sure how I didn't know about this all these years.

Then I was watching Food Network's series Diner, Drive-ins and Dives specifically to catch the segment on Memphis Taproom, a vegetarian and vegan friendly gastopub in Kensington. It was on this episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives that I peeped Memphis Taproom's chef smoking coconut (home cooks without a smoker can just use liquid smoke) for their vegan smoked coconut club sandwich. Oh, joy, I can have coconut bacon without lifting a finger in the kitchen.

On their own, coconut bacon chips are a bit hard to eat with a fork because of their small size, but I could certainly go for coconut bacon bits crumbled over a bowl of grits, or between bread like Memphis Taproom's club sandwich. Gotta get back there! Or just make my own.

Salt-Free Mrs. Dash

Last night was the first night we could eat outside this year. Of course, that was bracketed by two inches of snow over the weekend and a rainstorm today, but who's counting? An occasion like that called for fresh ingredients. I baked a loaf of sandwich bread, sliced up an avocado, and sauteed some chicken breasts with fingerling potatoes. We wanted to make Southwestern sandwiches. Coincidentally, I was sent some flavors of salt-free Mrs. Dash a few weeks ago to test out for Healthy Month, so I liberally sprinkled one of them, Fiesta Lime, on the breasts and grilled them up. For a little variation, I coated two of the four pieces with another flavor, Lemon Pepper.From the start, I was fairly impressed with how vibrant and bold the Fiesta Lime was. Even a little on the tip of a spoon yielded a fresh, smoky flavor with a surprising citrus edge. I was initially worried that the heat of the spices would edge out the fruit, but it was quite zesty. I wouldn't call the spice heated in any way, but it was very flavorful without being salty. I didn't miss salt at all. The fine grade of the seasoning made it easy to pat onto the chicken and rub into the meat without any pieces falling off. It made a fantastic crust on the chicken.The Lemon Pepper was a rougher grade and somewhat chunky and had a problem adhering to the chicken. The flavor before and after cooking was somewhat astringent and lost a lot of its fruitiness in the process. The Fiesta Lime cooked well with the chicken and penetrated the inside of the meat. I'd be interested in trying this as a marinade. So far, we've been using it on everything spicy, including guacamole, nachos, and sandwiches.

Gluten Free Honey Nut Chex

As far as breakfast goes, I would never label myself as being a big cereal eater. I never saw the point of waking up and eating something cold and meager when one could eat something hot and filling. I'm also much happier when I'm eating savory things than sweet. So cereal had the dice stacked against it for years, always pushed behind egg sandwiches or pancakes or the omnipresent McGriddle.When I got to college, my enthusiasm went up once I discovered that I could have any kind of cereal I wanted in any quantity, but after about a week's worth of Lucky Charms for dinner, the fun faded fast. Serendipity intervened a few weeks ago by means of General Mills Psst! They sent me a box of gluten free Honey Nut Chex to try out and out of desperation last week, I ate them. To my surprise, they were fantastic. While billed as having "just a touch of honey" they certainly have more than their fair share of flavor. I've never known any of the "nut" based cereals, aside from those that contain granola, to have anything more than a brief flirt with legumes, and so is the case with this cereal. If anything, the nut aspect is really overpowered by the milk.But the honey delivers a pleasant surprise. Combined with the wholesome corny flavor of the cereal, it tastes sweet and bready like a nice graham cracker. And that's not just in the cereal, either. There's a healthy coating of glaze and flavoring on the pieces so that enough seeps into the milk and is retained on the chex piece as well. The shape of the cereal absorbs milk well and soaks up the liquids nicely without getting mushy. I think that's a result of the gluten free ingredients but I'm not sure.What I really like about this is that there's a long window for eating it. You can eat it when it's very crispy and barely wet or when it's somewhat drenched with milk and falls apart in your mouth. And then you have all that luscious cereal milk leftover without any of the mushy crumbs floating around. It has that delicious, milky honey flavor. If I were ever to try Momofuku's Cereal Milk Panna Cotta, it would definitely be with this cereal. I've plowed through an entire box in about a week and think I've found my new breakfast companion for the upcoming summer. For more Healthy Month fare, check out April's posts and enter Foodette's $50 Food Contest right here.

California Turkey Burgers and Baked Onion Rings

Okay, the cliche of "California" style foods is no more accurate than bastardized versions of Pan-Asian fusion a la Guy Fieri or the latest "Asian" potato chip flavor. Slap some avocado or organic, free range sprouts on anything you see and it's suddenly Californian. But I have to say, it's pretty damned delicious.For our first Healthy Month entry, aside from the awesome contest, we wanted to make a recipe that wasn't stylistically different from anything we'd normally eat yet had some tweaks that would reduce the calories and fat. So we agreed on California turkey burgers with baked onion rings- surprisingly filling and absolutely excellent. One burger and nine onion rings clocks in at around 600 calories- at Red Robin, that same meal (with less meat!) will clock in at 1342 calories per person. California Turkey Burgers
Ingredients (serves 2)
3/4 pound of 99% fat free ground turkey
2 tablespoons salt-free seasoning (We used Mrs. Dash hamburger seasoning)
2 hamburger buns
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chili flakes
1/2 avocado, sliced
2 slices of reduced fat pepper jack cheese
2 tablespoons of spicy mayonnaise or mustard

1. Mix your seasoning and turkey together and shape into patties of your desired shape and size. Put them back in the refrigerator to chill. Heat up oil and chili flakes in a pan until hot and place each bun half in the pan to grill.
2. When the buns are crispy and toasted, take them off the heat and top with mayo and a few pieces of sliced avocado. Start cooking your turkey patties.
3. Turkey patties will be finished when they are crispy and juicy on both sides and are no longer pink in the middle. Lower your heat and place cheese on top. Cover your pan and let the burgers simmer until the cheese melts, and then place them on the buns and serve hot.Baked Onion Rings (adapted from For the Love of Cooking)
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 large yellow onion
1/2 cup of flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
2 cups of panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Cut your onion into thick rings and toss with salt, pepper, and flour until evenly coated.
2. Mix together your egg and milk and place panko in separate bowl. Spray a cookie sheet with baking spray and in a three step process, dip your floured rings in the egg and milk, the panko, and then place them on the cookie sheet. You want them to be evenly coated and not too wet, but it's a pretty messy process.
3. Once the sheet is full, bake the rings for ten minutes and then flip them over. Bake for another ten minutes or until brown on the outside and serve hot. These are extremely crispy, even the next day around, and have a flavor similar to their fried counterparts with far fewer calories.

Healthy Month Contest: Win $50 Worth of Free Food from Foodette!

Happy Healthy Month, one and all. By now you've probably discovered that this is NOT a post about massive burgers. Happy April Fool's Day! Consider this my personal Lent, combined with, of course, quintessential Jewish guilt. To celebrate, we here at Foodette Reviews are offering you the one and only chance to win $50 worth of free, relatively healthy food gift cards and coupons, as well as a starter set of eco-friendly glass straws! (Prop twenties not included!)The prize includes:
A $10 gift card from Wendy's
A $10 gift card to Stop and Shop (or your grocery equivalent)
5 Healthy Choice Coupons, each good for one meal of your choosing
2 Lean Cuisine Coupons, each good for one meal of your choosing
2 General Mills Gluten Free Chex coupons
One package of Glass Dharma glass straws- a $50 value, ABSOLUTELY FREE!It's a food extravaganza! It will feed you for a week or possibly a day if you're in college! It's delicious and nutritious! And KEEPITCOMING POSED FOR EVERYTHING! (She understands and wishes to continue.) All you need to do from now, April 1st, 2011, to April 29th, 2011, at 11:59 2011, is post a comment telling me one of your favorite healthy treats and one of your favorite guilty ones and you'll be automatically entered to win. Leave your email address and let the games begin!

Happy Healthy Month, guys!

Meiji Marshmallow Chocolate Bar

Here's a neat little bar from Meiji with some nostalgic connections. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this: Swiss Miss instant cocoa with mini-marshmallows, a.k.a. the best thing about playing outside in the snow. OK, so it's nowhere near as good as fancy drinking chocolate, but it sure hit the spot after an intense snowball fight or an 8 hour shift of building snow forts. These days, the last thing I want to do when it snows is go outside, but I still hit the cocoa every now and then.

The mini-marshmallows in this bar added a new texture for me. I'm sure other companies have done it, but most marshmallow confections I have tried are chocolate-coated marshmallow (or sugar coated marshmallow, like Peeps, but I'd rather not discuss Peeps), which is usually too much marshmallow for my tastes.


The bar smelled like basic milk chocolate, and really, the chocolate was nothing special. It was milky and sweet with a slightly sticky melt, but it didn't need to be anything more. The marshmallows were what made this bar interesting.

Though I was expecting them to be freeze-dried, the marshmallows were spongy, soft, and light. They added an interesting texture to the chocolate, though not much in the way of taste. Since I've never had anything like it, this bar felt fresh and unique, and both my husband and I enjoyed it.

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