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?

It’s Been A While

Well hello!

It’s been a long time since I last put anything on here, not because I didn’t want to of course, more so because for the last month or so my life has been a little chaotic.

My busy schedule started with finals transitioned with a move to a new house and has culminated with a second job. School ended well, all A’s and B’s – thank God. I moved into a new house with some awesome girls, Lindsay the vegan…though mostly she is just gluten and dairy free, Lisa who is down for just about everything except fish and wine, and Oliver the kitten who enjoys Chinese food – especially chow mein. I have made it my secret goal to change a few things about the roomies, for the better obviously. Once I am through I hope to see Lindsay going through as much milk as I do (about a gallon a week), Lisa and I will eat sushi and drink copious amounts of Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. And Oliver, well, if he could just stick to cat food and chow mein and stay away from my toes, arms, and nose I will be content. The roomies and I have been spending much time bonding by doing all the typical roommate activities such as raiding closets, watching Summer Heights High episodes on YouTube on the kitchen floor and bitching about how Oliver wakes us up at the most random hours of the night.

All the while I have been setting up the new house and finding places for all my things to go. I can confidently say that it’s almost finished. I’m just waiting to get a second clothing rack because apparel is yet another thing that I can never seem to purge enough. Seriously I just looked over and the one clothing rack I have now is leaning in a most dangerous manner. I only have my jackets and a few shirts on it. Send help?

Lastly, my new job has been taking precedence. I have had an internship with the California Indian Environmental Alliance for the last 2 years and at the beginning of May the executive directer called me up and basically told me they needed to hire someone and would love that someone to be me. Holler at your girl. I am so stoked to be working a “real” job. Especially with an organization that does so much good. For those not familiar, the organization works on raising awareness specifically within the American Indian communities about the mercury toxicity levels in the Bay Area. The high mercury levels that are present in many of the fish that make up a fair portion of their diet has led to birth defects and physical ailments for many tribe members. So now, I am part of a company who is really making a difference and helping to prevent poisoning and finding alternatives.

So yes, that is what I have been up to. Eating in between of course and taking note of the success and failures, just not on here. But now I am back and ready to share all the yummy finds I have been storing up for the perfect moment.

I think that perfect moment is now.

White Fish with Tomato, Capers, and Olives

Now here is the main dish for my dinner with Chenoa. White Fish with a salsa like topping. Spinach, olives, tomato, capers, onion all blended with a generous portion of white wine. This recipe was from the Food Network, like the green beans. Once again though, I altered the recipe to entice my taste buds.
I have really been craving fish lately, and as I am trying to expand my culinary horizons I have been making an effort to cook with it. Once Chenoa arrived we made our way to the store. After perusing the store for the best deals on everything we headed to the seafood section. The original recipe called for Sea Bass and I was looking forward to trying it. When I approached the glass encasing (that really doesn’t do much when it comes to encasing the fishy smell) I was shocked – SHOCKED – at their quite pitiful selection of Sea Bass. First of all, the didn’t have any fillets, only medallions. I could have dealt with that. But then on top of it, right next to these puny little medallions was a sign that said “Previously Frozen.” Ew. No thanks. I will use something else.

Not knowing my white fish options very well I asked the man behind the counter which fish he suggested. We came to the consensus that Dover Sole would be an adequate substitute.

If you are an inexperienced fish chef like myself, then let me REALLY recommend this recipe. Not only is it is quick but the hardest part of the prep work was slicing the olives (which you could buy pre-sliced). Oh and the diced onions,  but hey that’s not so bad.

I cut up both the olives and onions before cooking the fish to save time afterward. I diced a whole yellow onion and sliced the a can of olives thin, each olive was left in about 3 to 4 pieces once I was done wielding my knife. (The original recipe called for only half a cup of olives, but I figured we might as well use the whole can cause I really like ’em).

I have noticed, as perhaps you have from my previous posts, that I have a habit of color coordinating my cutting board to whatever color the item I am chopping. Alas, I don’t have a black cutting board, so the trend was severely disrupted. It’s a tragedy, really.

Lemon Garlic Green Beans

As my previous post mentioned, my friend Chenoa came over the other night for a gluten free dinner and all around catch up. I wanted to try something new for the main course and fish seemed to be just the ticket (which will be in my next post). For the side dish though, I wanted to stick with something a little familiar in case my fish was a flop. I got an idea for green beans with lemon and garlic from a Food Network recipe when I was searching for a good fish dish.

I don’t know about you, but I believe that green beans should be crispy and relatively fresh. When they are cooked too much they lose their brilliant green color and fail to satisfy the crunchy texture I love.

To start, I put a large pot on the stove and seasoned it with some salt and set it to boil. To save time I waited for the kitchen faucet water to get piping hot and filled the pot with that to cut down on heating time.

I then got out my 2 pounds of fresh green beans. While chatting about our boyfriends we snapped the ends off as they are tougher and some of them don’t look so good. The green beans looked like this.

Once the water was boiling I dropped the green beans in for only about 2 minutes. You can do it for longer if you favor a softer bean, keep in mind though, you will be sauteing them with the garlic and lemon in a few minutes so they will resume cooking when that happens.

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.