chocolate

{Closed}12 Days of Giveaways: Chocolate Fiesta

Welcome to launch of Running With Tongs! Not only is today the launch of my new blog it is also the start of my annual 12 Days of Giveaways. Over the next 12 days you will have the opportunity to win 12 different giveaways that include a variety of wonderful items from natural bath/body products, goodies for athletes, tasty eats, tea and a few surprises along the way.

Todays giveaway is sponsored by me and it is all about chocolate. This giveaway features Mexican Hot Chocolate that comes with one of my favorite mugs, Organic Dark Chocolate Almonds, Chocolate Svelte, Theo Cherry and Almond Dark Chocolate Bar and Dan’s The Caffeinator Bar.

GIVEAWAY:

There will be one winner for this giveaway. The giveaway is open to US  and Canadian Residents ONLY.  Giveaway Open until 12p est on 12/2.

 

To Enter: (please leave a separate comment for each entry)

  1. Answer this question: What is your favorite food to pair with chocolate?
  2. Follow @RunWithTongs on Twitter
  3. Tweet: “I want to win @runwithtongs #chocolate giveaway http://wp.me/pFVWo-2OS #12daysofgiveaways”

CSA Week 2: Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta & a Hail Merry!

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Neil and I decided (very) last minute that we would partake in the Pete’s Greens CSA again this summer since we love their produce. Last week was the first pick up because we were away we ended up giving away most of it except the potatoes and garlic scapes that we had for our camping breakfast. This week we received:

  • Bag of Mesclun Greens
  • Beet Greens
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Sweet Salad Turnips
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Scallions
  • Zucchini
  • Easter Egg Radishes
  • Sage
  • Potatoes

Tonight is the first of many meals using these amazing organic and local ingredients. Enjoy- I know we did!


Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta with Zucchini

Yields 4 servings

Takes about 30 minutes total to make

Ingredients:

  • Garlic Scape Pesto
    • 1 cup raw walnut pieces
    • 1 bunch of garlic scapes (about 1 to 3/4 cup), chopped
    • 4 cups basil leaves
    • 2/3 cup olive oil
    • 1t salt
    • 1T sesame seeds
    • 2T nutritional yeast

Place the walnuts and garlic scapes in the bowl of a food processor and process until small crumble. Add in the basil leaves, turn the processor on low and slowly stream in the olive oil through the feed tube. Add in the salt, sesame seeds and nutritional yeast; process to combine.

  • Sauteed Zucchini
    • 2 medium zucchini, sliced into half moons
    • Cooking Spray
    • 1/2t salt
    • 1/4t black pepper
    • 1/2t garlic powder
    • 1t nutritional yeast

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Spray with cooking spray and toss in the zucchini and saute for 3-4 minutes just until they start to lightly brown.  Stir in the salt, pepper, garlic powder and nutritional yeast; cook for 2 more minutes.

  • 4 servings of pasta of your choice

In a large bowl toss the pasta, zucchini and 1/4 to 1/3 of the pesto together.  Serve warm, room temp or cold!

The pesto makes a lot more than you need for this dish so place any extra in a jar top with a layer of olive oil and seal tightly.  Store in the freezer until you need it again.  To defrost move from the freezer to the fridge 8 hours before using.

For dessert we shared one of these wonderful vegan, raw, gluten free tarts from Hail Merry.

It was one of the best desserts I have ever tried and I am looking forward to picking up the other 3 flavors over the next month.  It was so rich and the perfect balance of creamy chocolate, cookie crust and almond butter center- to die for.

Five Things x3

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Five Things I Am Looking Forward To This Summer:

  1. Wanderlust (EEK it’s next week!)
  2. Hiking the Long Trail with the Hubz 
  3. VT Brewers Festival 
  4. My First 5k Race- Old Port 5K 
  5. My First Trip To Philadelphia (that wasn’t to the airport), sadly not for HLS, however we will be with two of our good friends.

Five  Blogs I Have Been Reading Lately (just a few I have a million in my reader and I’ll do this more regularly so don’t feel let out)**:

  1. Anywhere There’s An Airport I was first introduced to this blog via Kristen’s guest post over at PB Fingers and I fell in love with the blog instantly. Kristen writes about her life which involves living in Madrid my old home for 2 months the summer of 2004.  It is a place I have always wanted to travel back to but haven’t made it back so until then I live vicariously through Kristens posts.
  2. Pure2Raw I have been reading the Twins blog for awhile now and I just love how it has developed and evolved.  I love the features on their life, workouts and recipes.  If you are looking for some really great healthy recipes both raw and cooked visit their blog.
  3. Eating Bird Food Brittany’s who is a current IIN student has a wonderful blog that focuses in on healthy living more specifically wonderful food. Check out her recipe for Massaged Kale Salad– SO good!
  4. Healthy Ashely I love to read Ashley’s blog because she is open and honest and doesn’t apologize for who she is. I love reading about her active adventures (running, hiking, yoga, ect), the wonderful places she gets to eat in Asheville and about her upcoming wedding. You can read her vegan wedding tips here.
  5. Healthy Balance, Healthy Life A shout out to my local blogger and new friend the crazy Allie.  Her blog features her life unedited- she is a crazy ball of energy and always has something entertaining to say.

** I would like to note that I decided to remove my blogroll.  I just feel like it isn’t 100% up to date and I hate that I might be forgetting people so I have decided to feature 5 different blogs each week.  I hope you enjoy this!

Five Things I Am Loving:

  1. Running- I am addicted!
  2. The Broads– We have Sirius/XM in our car right now and I listen to them every morning on my way to work. They are hilarious. 
  3. Salads- I have a love hate relationship with salads.  I either want them all the time or I don’t want them at all.  Currently we are in love. 
  4. Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. Addictive. period.
  5. My Husband. I know I love him all the time but right now I just wanted to express my love for him because he has been ridiculously supportive during the crazy time. XO. 

Lastly, I just wanted to encourage you to read my Yoga Aid Challenge post and donate any products (gently used or new) or services to my auction to raise money for Off The Mat.

What are 5 things that you love right now? What are your favorite blogs?

On the 8th Day there was Chocolate

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Fearless Chocolate sent me one of their raw chocolate bars to try. Fearless Chocolate has three times more antioxidants than conventional organic chocolate bars. The bars are certified organic, 100% kosher, dairy-free, gluten-free and soy-free. The chocolate unlike many raw chocolates Fearless makes theirs with rapadura sugar. Fearless Chocolate is crafted with whole raw organic cacao beans and the chocolate are not heated to more the 118F to preserve the natural nutrients, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants.

Okay so now that we cover what is so great about the chocolate lets get down to do the good stuff, does it taste good? YES! This chocolate is so good! My husband decided he liked it so much that I only got a few bites before he finished it off. So what can I saw it was delicious.

Fearless Chocolate are offering a complete set of our Fearless Chocolate bars for your give-away (5 bars total). Flavors include

  • Sweet & Hot Hibiscus Ginger
  • Super Seeds
  • Matcha Green Tea & Peppermynt
  • Midnight

TO ENTER: This giveaway is open until December 9th at 6pm. This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian Residents.

1. Visit the Fearless Chocolate and tell me something you learned . (required)

Additional Chances to win (PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY; also if you already do any of these ie. follow me on twitter/facebook, ect it counts so leave a comment).

  1. Follow Fearless Chocolate on Twitter.
  2. Like Fearless Chocolate on Facebook.
  3. Follow me on Twitter.
  4. Tweet about this giveaway “I want to win @cookveganlover @beingfearless Giveaway http://wp.me/pFVWo-1mC”
  5. Like Cook.Vegan.Lover. on Facebook.

Recipe: Chocolate Chipotle Corn and Black Bean Soup

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Chocolate Chipotle Corn and Black Bean Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 1T olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1t garlic powder
  • 2t ground cumin
  • 1t paprkia
  • 2t chili powder
  • 1t Italian seasoning
  • 1T soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup brewed coffee
  • 1T cacao powder
  • 2T chipotle chiles in adobo, diced
  • 1 (28oz) can peeled whole tomatoes with their juices
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Ingredients minus the beans- they were draining in the sink

In a large heavy bottom pot heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add in the onion and saute for 5-7 minutes until soft and translucent.  Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the spice and cook for 30 seconds.  Stir in the coffee, soy sauce, cacao powder and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the chipotles and tomatoes with their juice; bring up to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Stir in the corn and cover and cook 15 more minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Review: Chocolate Inspirations

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Chocolate Inspirations sent me a few samples of their toffee and brittles to review. The great thing about Chocolate Inspirations is that a number of their chocolates can be made sugar-free and vegan and they taste amazing.  Among the flavors that I was sent to try were:

Vegan Cashew Brittle- This chocolate was delicious mix of brittle, chocolate and nuts.

Vegan English Toffee- this was my favorite of all the samples and it was great because I haven't had toffee in years (I don't count the xmas I attempted to make my own and set the stove on fire). This was creamy, caramel and delicious.

Vegan Coconut Brittle- this one was really tasty with it's creamy coconut taste and toasted coconut topping

Vegan Coffee Toffee- this was my hubby's favorite - he loves chocolate and coffee together and this was a great combo especially with the chopped pecans.

Overall this chocolate was amazing and my hubby and I can’t wait to order more of it. I think we will definitely be ordering some chocolate from here soon. Did I mention there are vegan caramels cups? I am sure they are to die for.

Disclaimer: Chocolate Inspirations provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Product Review: Attune Chocolate

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Click to Visit Attune Website

Attune sent me three of their Chocolate Probiotic Wellness Bars to try. They sent me dark chocolate, raspberry dark chocolate and coffee bean dark chocolate; all three of these bars were really good. “Attune is the powerhouse probiotic bar packed with 5 times the live active cultures of yogurt. It has all the digestive health and immune benefits of probiotics in one tasty little package you can take on the go. One Attune bar every day is the delicious way to feel amazing.” They are:

  • Packed with 5 times the live active cultures in yogurt
  • Excellent source of calcium
  • Only 80-90 calories
  • All natural
  • Take it on the go!

These bars tasted great and with less calories then most chocolate bars it was a great treat.  The raspberry was my favorite it was sweet from the raspberry and bitter from the chocolate which created a great combination.  I also really like the coffee bean because honestly what goes better with coffee then dark chocolate.  Of  course the plain dark chocolate bar was delicious as well. 

Blogger Disclaimer: Attune provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.