Emmy’s Organics

I believe there are two types of people in the world

Those who reach for a salty snack when a rough day has gotten the best of them

And those who crave a sweet treat after a similar experience

I would place myself pretty firmly in the latter category, only occasionally dipping my toes on the salty side.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a sugar addict, the general extent of my sweet intake consists of a few spoonfuls of ice cream before bed every once in a while.

Ok, you got me, sometimes its more than just a few spoonfuls.

So when I began my raw food challenge, I was a wee bit concerned about the lack of sweet stuff that would be available to me after what I was expecting to be a pretty stressful week with school and work.

Which is why I was thrilled when I discovered Emmy’s Organics a few days into my challenge.

What is Emmy’s?

“At emmy’s we are committed to YOU having it all. We pride ourselves on the quality, creativity & sustainability of the products we offer. In respect for our bodies & the earth, we use the finest non-GMO ingredients in everything we make & biodegradable, earth-friendly resources for our packaging. Our food is derived from nature, which in return nourishes us in the best way possible. Vegan & Gluten-free foods are our passion, so you can always feel good about choosing emmy’s. All of our goods are made in a certified vegan & gluten-free kitchen.”

The plot thickens, pretty much everything on their site is also RAW.

Yea, I know, AMAZING. I was so excited about the possibility of being able to indulge a little on this challenge, but also because I knew that if Emmy’s was as delicious as I had heard, I would acquire a new favorite snack!

The company also sells other products such as almond milk, granola, and super-fudge, but I was on their websites for two reasons: Chocolate Sauce and Macaroons.

Oh baby.

Original Dark Chocolate Sauce, uh huh, I ordered some of that.

I went a little crazy when I got to the macaroons.

I started off slow, but before I knew it I had 6 bags of macaroons in my cart! (They were just sampler bags, thank God).

Then I was patient and played the waiting game until my package arrived at my doorstep.

Sadly, it didn’t make it in time for my raw challenge. No matter, I still got down with them a few nights ago.

I started with the chocolate sauce

I took my first taste, letting it sit on my tongue for a moment enjoying the creamy rich texture and the sweet, but not cloyingly sugary flavor.

I took a second taste and was really blown away. THIS STUFF IS BETTER THAN THE UNHEALTHY VERSION.

Seriously. This chocolate sauce is incredible. Its smooth and chocolatey in the best kind of way. It tasted natural and not overly processed the way a lot of commercial chocolate sauces taste.

This stuff is heaven on earth. Its Chocolate Gold. In a jar.

After pairing it with a simple spoon the first time, I figured I should get a little more refined so I indulged during my midnight midterm study sesh and got down with some Granny Smith apple slices and the sauce – beautiful.

Buy it, love it, order more.

Now on to the macaroons!

My package arrived when Matt and I were about to leave to go to lunch with our friends Sohini and Kati, so I ripped the box open quickly and pulled a sampler out for all of us to try.

While waiting for our food to arrive I passed around a piece of the Dark Cacao flavor. And then begged Matt to take a pic of us girls holding our treat.

We all took our first bite, it was magic. Like the chocolate sauce, they didn’t taste raw at all. I forgot how good macaroons were and these, I would claim, are better. These macaroons tasted like Nutella and the coconut wasn’t too dry, so you didn’t choke on it when you tried to swallow.

Kati even commented, “are you sure these are actually raw?”

The others were all equally as scrumptious.

I know some people aren’t a fan of citrus and chocolate combinations, but I am. I’m pretty much a fan of chocolate and anything combinations, but that’s neither here nor there. This orange-choco combo was perfection, the citrus came through clear and bright, because its raw it was a very pure citrus flavor, none of that candied orange business going on in this lil’ macaroon! The smell and accompanying taste gave an overall fresh spring taste to the treat.

The Mint Chip – WOW! My mouth literally felt cold and fresh after biting into this. Who needs an after dinner mint when you can snack on this?! SO fragrant and delightful with the cacao nibs. I did notice though that after eating too much of this macaroon, I was left with a bit of a toothpaste aftertaste. I’m all for toothpaste aftertaste, after I brush my teeth, it was just a little odd knowing it was coming from a dessert this time. Overall though, very tasty.

Biting into this was like sticking my nose into the sweet shelf of an Indian spice cupboard, and I mean that in the best way. This was fantastic. Cinnamon, Ginger, Cardamom, Nutmeg, and Clove – OH MY! This had such a rich and warm flavor, the cardamom came through as the flavor frontrunner, but each spice played a beautiful note. This was Matt’s favorite, and I think visually this was mine with the abundance of spices visible atop the coconut.

The Choco Chili Macaroons, oh baby, they will get ya. When I opened the package, the macaroons smelled spicy, warm, and cinnamony all at once. I took my first bite of these and was like “ummm what the heck? They aren’t spicy at all.” Then the heat hit me, oh lordy, did it hit me. The Himalayan salt really came through in this one, balancing the heat. Don’t be afraid of this macaroon, it is absolutely wonderful if you like the spicy and sweet flavor contrast, Emmy’s does it oh so well. I would just recommend having a glass of milk nearby!

Lemon Ginger, Lemon Ginger, Lemon Ginger, you were hands down my favorite. This flavor was light and refreshing, a little light on the ginger, and heavy on the lemon, but I think I prefer it that way. These little things reminded me of the lemon bars of my childhood, sweet but unadulterated lemon tartness. Its love.

The Final Review: Basically folks, I love Emmy’s. They make great products at reasonable prices and best of all, they are a sweet snacks that leave you feeling guilt free! After I ordered online, I discovered that a market in the city sells them, so from now on you can bet I will be making a trip down there and stocking up on all this raw goodness! I’ll have to pick up some of their super-fudge and granola and let you all know what I think, but based on what I’ve tried so far, I’m expecting nothing less than excellence!

Have you ever tried Emmys? If so, what’s your favorite macaroon flavor?

Chocolate Cupcakes, Filled with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Topped with Toasted Marshmallow Meringue Frosting

I love avoiding homework. Really, I do. Sure, once I hunker down and get into the groove of it, I’m cool. Until then, I’m like a child being put to bed early. I kick and scream and hold on to the door molding with my tiny fingers until one of my parents pries me off and stuffs me under my bed sheets.

Thank god I don’t live with my parents anymore, no supervision rocks. Until its 2 a.m. and I still have 6 hours of homework and only 3 1/2 hours of energy. Then I wish I had my mother breathing down my neck.

Last night was one of those nights. I spent the day procrastinating. Matt and I made the brunch of champions: thick cut bacon, fried eggs, and southwestern hash browns and a big cup o’ joe – all in my new cast iron skillets. Which are AMAZING. Then I looked up how to clean my cast iron, since as some of you may know, you can’t use soap. So I exfoliated my skillet with salt, put it back on the stove to dry, then conditioned it with a wee bit of vegetable oil to keep it lookin’ smooth. OH BABY!

After that, I bleached my sink, and used 409 to wipe down the counters. And the stove. And the kitchen walls.

Then I used some furniture stain to give my new wooden trunk a glossy finish. This took a while, cause the trunk is huge and I was using quite a bit of elbow grease.

I had just sat down to start my homework when I realized that I needed to start baking some ridiculously extravagant cupcakes for Julio and Sohini’s birthday party! Because after all, my reputation as my friend’s “go-to girl for ridiculously extravagant food” comes above all else. My Editing homework could wait.

See, Julio’s birthday is on Friday and Sohini’s is on Sunday, so we are having a “Hobo Party” on Saturday. You know, where we all dress up in our homeless best i.e. ripped tights, plaid shirts, Doc Martens, and fur caps and sit out on Sohini’s back porch around a fire pit eating hot wings and gumbo, amongst other tasty treats Matt and I will be whipping up.

I knew we had to end the night off well – with a food coma, justifying the fact that we are going to turn this shin dig into a massive sleepover (I already called dibs on the couch). Cause really who wants to move after 5 courses and copious amount of booze?

Thus my adventure to make Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough topped with Toasted Marshmallow Meringue Frosting began. Or, as I like to call them, Heart Transplant Cupcakes. A double entendre of sorts, because you take out the center “heart” of the chocolate cupcake and replace it with a new cookie dough “heart.” Also, because you will probably need a new heart yourself after too many of these.

Especially when you accidentally buy Jumbo cupcake liners, instead of the regular ones.

Either way, like I said, ridiculous.

Cardamom Rice Pudding with Pistachios

I have this fantastic friend, Chenoa. We met about a year ago I would say, and I every time we hang out I always have a blast. Most of the time we watch the British show Skins – before the American version came out – the Brits do it better. Trust me. When we aren’t holed up in her house watching hours upon hours of that we shop or eat in the Mission where she lives. Sadly, because of our ridiculously busy schedules we haven’t been able to hang out in quite a while. Kristina was not a happy girl.

Then out of the blue on Friday my phone alerts me to a text message. Since my phone is essentially an extension of my left hand I slid it open and am greeted with this, “What are you doing this weekend, woman? I miss your face and your food blog keeps making me super hungry. We should cook together soon <3”

First of all, I was super excited that she was free over the weekend and then I got super excited ’cause SHE HAS BEEN READING MY BLOG.

SCORE!

I text her back and let her know that I am beyond down to hang out. I ask her what she wants to make. Her response? “Anything gluten free.”

I have heard that term before, but I was like what the hell does that mean? How do I cook without gluten? What is gluten in? Crap.

It is only now, as I write this that I am looking up the definition. I am a crazy girl who likes to fly by the seat of her pants and do keyword searches in Google for “gluten free recipes” rather than look it up. Can you handle that? Anyway, for those of you who just want it out in the open, gluten is “a protein that is found in cereal grains such as wheat, rye, barley, spelt, and kamut, but NOT in rice, quinoa, corn, buckwheat, or millet. It is a more common allergen than most people are aware of. The condition in which the body creates an immune response to products containing gluten is called Celiac disease.”

Ok. Sooooooo wasn’t totally positive what to make. I looked online for some recipe ideas and found an abundance of mouth watering dishes. I started with dessert first, ’cause I had already had dinner that night. Rice pudding seemed to keep cropping up in my Google searches which got me thinking about my options. Then I saw the combination of of Cardamom and pistachios. WOW. Pair it with some Basmati rice, and baby, you got yourself an Indian inspired dessert. I’ll take it.

I started with 5 cups of milk and put that in a pot and turned the heat to medium. I then took 1 1/4 cup of Basmati rice and washed it.

The water will get kinda milky, when it does that – drain it. Then drop in in the pot of milk.

No-Bake Nutella Bites

While stalking friends on Facebook, I came across this beautiful recipe for a dessert including Nutella from a fellow food blogger. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE Nutella. And so do my roommates.

I thought I would give it a shot.

Start out with a sauce pan and melt 1/2 cup of butter aka 1 stick

Once melted add 1 & 3/4 cups of white sugar

Next you wanna measure out 1/2 cup of milk. I used 2% milk cause I gotta watch my figure!

Last but not least, add 1/2 cup of cocoa!

MIX MIX MIX

You Won’t Hate These Apple Peels

I had this family friend who was like a grandma to me, Estelle, who made the best applesauce I have ever tasted. Seriously, if she had ever decided to turn it into a shelf stable product she would have Mott’s out of business in a week. I will make it soon and show you how to as well! I have made it a few times but I always felt bad throwing out the apple peels they contain loads of nutritional benefits such as Vitamin C and antioxidants and according to Rui Hai Liu, the Cornell associate professor of food science, apple peels help combat cancer! Definitely not throwing that away.

I was playing around in the kitchen with them for a bit and came up with this tasty recipe. I don’t have definitive measurements I base it all on personal preference.

Start with an apple, doesn’t matter what kind. A word of advice though, I have had the best experience with green apple varieties such as Pippin and Granny Smith because the tartness compliments the sugar you will add quite nicely. I used Granny Smith this time. Start by peeling your apple using a regular carrot peeler works quite nicely. For those comfortable enough, try using a paring knife because you can get a closer peel. However, leaving a little extra meat on the peel is quite tasty as well! Again, this is all based on your own taste.

In a medium sized skillet put a LIGHT drizzle of Canola oil – just enough to coat the bottom. Swirl it around in your pan. Turn on the heat to medium.

After you peel your apples, pop em in the pan.

It doesn’t matter what size your peels are, I do a variety of small and large pieces.