dark chocolate

Almost daily in the news we see reports of chocolate’s health benefits. It’s a potent antioxidant, and is chock-full of chemicals and nutrients that have been attributed to making us happy. Yet many of us remain skeptical; eating lots of chocolate doesn’t seem to make us feel better, and in fact can lower energy levels for awhile. So what gives? If chocolate is such a miracle food, shouldn’t we be able to eat it all the time, without guilt and feel great? Well, yes, we can, but the way chocolate is prepared is crucial to unlocking its true potential as a health food. If you’d like to learn how to have a healthy dose of chocolate daily, read on…

It happens that the somewhat controversial ‘raw foodists’ are right on the mark with this one: it’s raw, unroasted, unprocessed chocolate that’s the real health food. Really, it’s not even called chocolate, but Cacao — chocolate is the name for the roasted, fat and sugar added product that Willy Wonka makes. (But for the fun of it, we’ll keep calling it chocolate. In the long run, it’s cool to think you’ve added ‘eating chocolate’ to the list of things you do daily that are good for you.) One needs to be careful, too, as raw chocolate is relatively hard to come by. Pricey organic hot cocoa is still roasted and alkalized, changing chocolate’s chemistry significantly enough to warrant limiting its intake. You can get raw chocolate online, and it’s slowly finding its way onto store shelves. Make sure it says ‘raw’ or ‘cacao’ (pronounce ‘Ka-’, as in cat, ‘cow’) and not ‘cocoa’, and should have no other ingredients (though some actual raw chocolate ‘candy’ can be found in very hip health food stores). Got it? If you still need a little convincing, here’s a quick look at the difference between raw and processed chocolates to help you make the switch — then on to a few recipes.

First the question of Caffeine. Many folks are sensitive to caffeine’s effect on their nervous system. It raises blood pressure, shortens tempers and keeps people awake. And we all know chocolate has caffeine in it, right? But what form is it in? Research done by homeopaths indicates a significant difference on the stimulating effects of chocolate depending on whether it’s been heated or not. A drink made with roasted chocolate evoked excitement of the nervous system that did not occur with unroasted chocolate. Alteration of chemical structures through heat is common, and occurs in the case of chocolate. The roasting process involves heating the beans between 250 and 350 degrees F for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Anecdotal reports of individuals moving from coffee or yerba mate as their morning drink to a cup of hot chocolate report gentle stimulating effects without anxiety, as their other drinks had produced. Even very sensitive people who do not do well with any form of caffeine report positive results with raw chocolate; nothing at all like the effects produced by coffee or caffeinated teas.

Next the question of anti-oxidants. Chocolate has been discovered to have exceptionally high quantities of important polyphenols. A study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry was titled: “Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals and Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine.” It’s hard to argue with that. Here again the question of raw arises: One report notes that while roasted chocolate is made up of five-percent antioxidants, raw chocolate contains twice as much at ten percent. Another important note is the addition of milk to make milk chocolate. Research has shown that the addition of milk actually cancels-out the positive effects of chocolate’s antioxidants. And milk may be one of the reasons many people seem to be allergic to chocolate, as lactose intolerance is fairly common. Another chocolate myth is some individuals break out when ingesting high amounts; reports indicate that raw chocolate does not cause this response, and that it may be the refined fats and sugars present in most chocolate products producing this effect.

Maybe the most intriguing constituents of chocolate are it’s mood-altering chemicals besides its stimulation. Many users of raw chocolate find and even greater boost than from commercial chocolates. Like caffeine, some of the molecules attributed to mood-enhancement are also heat sensitive. Tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin, is present in significant amounts and is known to be broken down by heat (and apparently it’s not the Tryptophan in the turkey dinners that makes one tired, it’s the three servings followed by pie and ice cream!). Other natural constituents are dopamine and precursors to dopamine, one molecule called the ‘love chemical’ and another called the ‘bliss chemical’. Add to these monoamine oxidase inhibitors which actually enhance the activity of all of the above mood brighteners. Finally, there’s lots of easily absorbed magnesium in raw chocolate, a mineral associated with serotonin production (many pharmaceutical antidepressants increase serotonin activity), and the ability to relax. Raw chocolate offers the healthiest and most effective means of adding these happy-making nutrients to your daily diet.

Convinced? Ready for a little raw chocolate power? First its critical to find a good source; make sure the chocolate you’re buying is raw - it will be most likely labeled ‘Cacao’, the name for the raw chocolate beans and the tree on which they grow. Cacao nibs are small pieces of pure raw chocolate that can be eaten straight, or mixed with other healthy snacks like Gogi berries. But the best-loved raw chocolate preparation is the original chocolate drink: hot chocolate. Now it won’t be hot enough for long enough to convert any chemicals or to cook the chocolate, just to make it a warm comforting drink - and of course, heating the water isn’t necessary at all (though in recipes calling for Coconut oil, it helps to blend the oil into the drink). So to make a cup, use powdered raw chocolate (grinding the nibs or beans in a coffee grinder can work, though you’ll find this challenging as the natural oils in the chocolate will heat up and liquefy before the grinding is complete, leaving little crunchy bits). Put one or two tablespoons powdered chocolate, 1 to 2 teaspoons raw dark agave nectar (a low-glycemic index natural sweetner) and 1 to 2 teaspoons of Coconut oil in a blender. Add 8 to 12 ounces almost-boiling water and blend for 10 seconds. That’s it! You’ll find your personal favorite formula after a few preparations - more or less chocolate, oil, sweetener or water.

There are lots and lots of recipes out there, and great reading on raw chocolate’s health benefits and preparation. You’ll cacao powder often combined with other super nutritious foods in smoothies and good-for-you deserts. Natural organic candies start with the same ingredients as the drinks, but without the liquid. Just make a paste, adding pecans, coconut shavings or whatever you like, and chill to harden. As you’re not baking anything, there’s little to go awry, and really, so many possibilities. By using raw chocolate, you’ll open up a whole new world of cooking for yourself and your family — and if you hadn’t before, you might just find yourself really motivated to treat yourself to natural health and wellness.

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Ah chocolate, that delicious creamy treat that is everyone’s vice. We just can’t get enough of the stuff, even though we know the amount we consume is ultimately bad for us, we just can’t resist it, so there tends to be a guilt edged pleasure about eating it. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a healthy chocolate?

Well you probably didn’t know this but there is, and it still contains the good stuff such as the minerals and antioxidants. It doesn’t however, have all the bad stuff in it.

It’s all the stuff that we put into chocolate that makes it fattening and unhealthy. These are things such as milk solids, sugar and cocoa butter. These help to make milk chocolate taste so good, but are really bad for us. A dark chocolate and especially a low sugar bitter variety doesn’t have all these additives.

Chocolate isn’t actually food as far as our bodies are concerned, they will merely store away all the bad stuff and ignore the good bits. This makes our guilty treat even worse for us than we thought!

The trick is to eat chocolate with other foods as well, nuts and fruits are perfect. Eating them together ensures that your body treats the chocolate as food and you get all the goodness from it.

But if you take in other stuff such as fruit or nuts at the same time it will then treat the chocolate as food and you will then get the benefits.

I used to work as a chocolatier, so you can imagine how much chocolate I used to eat! As I ate dark chocolate complimented with strawberries, blueberries, nuts etc I never put any weight on. A blood test also proved that I had the optimum level of minerals and vitamins in my system.

So you now know which chocolate to eat if you can’t do without it. Forget the fat laden milk chocolate bars and reach for a dark chocolate with fruit and nuts and enjoy your treat without the guilt.

Stick to the old adage ‘a little of what you fancy does you good’ and don’t go crazy and overindulge.

Aside from food, this writer also frequently contributes articles about metal roofing material and metal roofing companies.

The three Cs of spices in this treat (cinnamon, cardamom and cayenne pepper) not only wake up your taste buds, but help you feel good by helping the brain to release endorphins, says Dr La Puma. Cayenne pepper in this dessert can even help reduce stomach ulcers and block pain receptors, making this dish nothing short of a true pleasure.

Innovative dessert features fiber-rich steel cut oats– luscious, satisfying, good for you! A research study in Africa found that lime juice added to food helped protect people against cholera. Get the recipe at www.chefmd.com .

Every treat called a cookie is not what we would usually view as a cookie. Several are added extras to our cookies that taste very good (like Butterfinger pieces), whereas others formulate the fundamental shape or size of cookies but do not feature the traditional ingredients of a cookie the least bit. An enjoyable chocolate cookie recipe is not really a cookie, but tastes fantastic and is an outstanding substitute for conventional turtle cookies.

For a very tasty recipe, you need only three very simple ingredients that may already be in your kitchen. You simply need to find pretzel twists or rings, chocolate kisses (caramel chocolate work best), and some pecans that are halved.

Get things going by preheating the oven to about 300 degrees, a little higher if you are doing several sheets since you will be opening the door frequently. Lay the pretzels flat on the non-stick cookie sheet, and add a kiss on the top of each pretzel.

Bake this mixture until the chocolate is spongy, but not totally softened. To finish, draw the sheet from your oven and complement the mixture by topping it with the pecan halves on the pliable chocolate.

You can use multiple types of Hershey’s kisses to make this treat, and almost any type of nut will taste great. This is a tasty way to get creative with your holiday party platter, and you can even make several different types to add to the same platter. The key is to go with the flow and use what works for you.

One average bag of candies will create lots of these turtle cookies; capable of creating eighty if you do not begin eating the treats while you are heating them. It is exceptionally enticing to nibble as you bake. Eighty cookies will extend a long time on a Christmas platter, but make certain to make additional treats if you are wishing for them to stay fresh, since they will be eaten quickly.

Are you looking for a Chocolate Cookie Recipe that will wow everyone who eats them? You can find this and much more when you take a look at our assortment of Sugar Cookie Recipes.

Making your own frosting is easy with the right frosting recipes, it is also more economical, tastier, healthier and convenient. Preservative free frosting just like Grandma used to make looks better, tastes better and will give you a sense of achievement.

Americans have been spoiled with convenience foods, but they have also suffered because of this. So many artificial flavorings and preservatives in everything can’t be good for anyone. You should use the same rules that your Grandmother used when shopping, if it does not look like food then it probably isn’t. For example if Gran went shopping for cheese and was confronted by a tube, she never would believe it was food, and it actually isn’t.

It does not take as much time as you think to make frosting, and today we have all the beaters and kitchen gadgets we want at our disposal. Grandma would have made it with a bowl and a wooden spoon, we don’t have to do that and our frosting will taste just as good as hers, the kids will never want you to buy store bought frosting again!

If you make use of a single butter frosting recipe, you can add and subtract ingredients as you will to change the flavor and color. If you want orange, strawberry and chocolate frosting fro one batch of cupcakes, mix up one batch, divide it into three portions, add chocolate to one, fresh strawberries to another and fresh orange juice and zest to the third batch. Substitute cream cheese for butter and make frosting for a carrot cake.

Delicious, fast and easy, home made frosting can be whipped up in many different flavors using a basic recipe. All kinds of plain store bought cookies can be frosted to tart them up, cup cakes, brownies and cakes can be frosted to make them taste extra special.

One tip, is don’t confuse confectioners sugar with granulated sugar, you won’t get frosting. Another is don’t use margarine, use butter, it makes your frosting taste so much better. Never frost a cake until it has cooled completely and always refrigerate left overs.

Want to find out more about frosting recipes, then visit Maura Duke’s site on how to choose the best frosting recipe for your needs.

BBQ chicken is one of the most popular meats ever enjoyed all over the world. Chicken is usually affordable, will fill you up, and is an excellent way to get protein. Whether you decide to cook it on the BBQ grill, smoker or just in the oven it is easy to cook, so anyone can make it. The problem is there are a lot of recipes out there and how do you know which are the good ones? Well there are some general ingredients that let you know it is going to be a good recipe that you and your guests will enjoy at your next BBQ.

Mustard, ketchup, garlic, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, cinnamon and sometimes beer are all ingredients to look out for if it is a traditional BBQ chicken you are after. If you want a more asian flavor to it look for ingredients like Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey, and ginger. BBQ chicken is about personal taste and there are a lot of recipes for it because it is a flexible dish. A good and easy recipe that you may want to try out is from Paula Deen and her show ‘Paula’s Home Cooking’. It is one that can be grilled or put in the oven and is called Deen’s Brothers BBQ Chicken. It is as follows:

Ingredients:1/4 cup dark brown sugar packed, 1 cup ketchup, 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder, tablespoons orange juice, teaspoon cayenne pepper, teaspoon liquid smoke, teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, chicken (3 1/2 pounds) cut into eight. Preparation: preheat the oven to 375F or if cooking on the grill brush it with olive oil. In a large bowl mix in all the ingredients apart from the chicken. Put aside a third of the sauce for later and then add the chicken in the bowl and move it around so that BBQ sauce coats it. If cooking in the oven place the chicken in a roasting pan and cook for 40-45 minutes or until properly cooked. If cooking on the grill cover it. Remember to use the BBQ sauce you set aside to baste the chicken after twenty minutes of cooking.

The chicken tastes great and it is a recipe anyone can follow, grilled or not. For those of you not used to cooking with liquid smoke this gives meat a smoked flavor and smell without having to actually smoke it. If you do not like smoked meat then just leave it out!

Also when it comes to the chicken itself you do not have to get a whole chicken if you find it hard chopping one up yourself. Get chicken pieces, thighs, breasts, legs or wings. Thighs in particular are a great option because they are juicy, inexpensive and will cook quicker so you get to do the eating quicker!

If you want to read more about recipes, just visit ourhot recipes website. It’s full of wonderful homemade recipes for you to enjoy.

You need the right kind of cake decorating equipment to perfect your cake decorating skills. Paddles and icing smoothers are some of the essential cake decorating equipment.They come in handy especially if you are decorating a cake with various kinds of frostings and icing.

If your cake decoration requires a lot of fondant and marzipan use, rolling pin is indispensable. They are available in wood, plastic and marble. The marble rolling pin that is heavy and long is a great choice for rolling out fondant and provides better result than the plastic or wood rolling pin.

Plastic is preferred to marble when it is about the choice of rolling mat. It provides a non-sticky surface and you can easily transfer the rolled out fondant without losing the smooth texture.

One type of cake decorating equipment you really need to get is a good turntable. Since cakes can be heavy (i.e. wedding cakes), you will find a turntable to be very helpful. If you can afford to do so, invest in a good, study model, as some cheap turntables are known to tilt too much.

You can not imagine decorating a cake without the spatula or the palette knife. Metal spatulas are the choice of professional bakers.

For creating delicate designs on your cake- such as icing shells, scrolls or snail trails a piping set with various sized nozzles could be your best choice of cake decorating equipment.

Fine paint brushes are the important cake decorating equipment if, flowers are the theme of your cake. You can create natural looking gum paste flowers and use the fine brush and food coloring to add your creative touches .The broad brushes are used to clear the work surface.

Other cake decorating equipment you might need are- the flower nails, silver pins, food coloring and decorator tips. All the cake decorating equipments are affordable and available at a local cake supplies store as well in on-line stores.

In this video, Betty demonstrates how to make a gorgeous and luscious sweet treat–Chocolate Cherry Cordial Dessert. It is made of vanilla ice cream, and is chock full of maraschino cherries, pecans, and chocolate pieces. Simply Irresistable! Ingredients: 1 ½ quarts to 2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened 1 cup maraschino cherry halves ½ cup chopped pecans (4) 1.55 oz. milk chocolate bars, finely chopped (I used a large 5 oz. bar of dark chocolate; the dark chocolate freezes harder, and is …

Wilton Cake Supplies is the ultimate place to find all the high quality cake decorating tools for your baking needs. Whether baking is your hobby or you are a cake decorating expert, you need the quality supplies for better results.

Wilton has been the choice of professional cake decorators for years. At Wilton Cake Supplies, equipment and tools are made of high quality materials and also affordable. They sell every item imaginable for someone who is interested in decorating cakes.

So, what type of supplies will you need? To begin with, you?ll need a good spatula. Wilton sells great metal spatulas that work much better than cheap plastic ones or butter knives. It?s also a better choice than a wooden spatula, as it?s easier to spread the icing with.

The pre-packaged assorted cake decorating tools sold by the Wilton Cake Supplies is cost-effective and includes mostly all the tools essential for your baking needs.

They sell pastry bags of various sizes for your decorating needs. They are easier to use and clean and can be used with different sized couplers and tips.

They offer cake turntables and stands simple enough for your cake decorating hobby and they also carry turntables for professional bakers. They are priced accordingly yet pretty much affordable.

At Wilton supplies you can find all the tools for the special cake you are baking- you will find quality supplies even to decorate a wedding cake.

You can order Wilton Cake Supplies online now. You can browse through the catalog and find all that you need for your project. Find all the tools necessary to create your fabulously decorated cake that will be the talk of your friend?s circle for quite sometime.