Tag Archives: chocolate

February Conscious Box

Conscious Box // Herbivore Triathlete

This month’s Conscious Box has arrived! I subscribe to the vegan Conscious Box but they also offer Eco-Friendly and Gluten-Free options.

Conscious Box // Herbivore Triathlete

The February Conscious Box is curated by Taylor Eyewalker of EyeWalkerElements.com

Conscious Box // Herbivore Triathlete

Let’s see what came in this month’s box, shall we?

Conscious Box // Herbivore Triathlete

Florax DS All Natural Ready-to-Drink Probiotic: Promotes Digestive and Immune Health! Probiotics are widely proven to promote digestive and immune health. Healthy digestion depends on the balance of your body’s natural digestive bacteria or microflora. When something upsets that balance, your digestive system can react with cramps, bloating and/or diarrhea. Florax DS RTD Probiotic provides live probiotic cultures, known as Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (Brewers’ Yeast), to begin providing relief through an exclusively developed liquid suspension that delivers live cultures directly to the intestines. Our drinkable Florax DS doesn’t require you to take a capsule or tablet everyday. In addition, No refrigeration is required. Our probiotic cultures survive the GI Tract and deliver live probiotic cultures where you need them most….in your gut!

Swipes Lovin Wipes-Unscented: To be as discreet as possible, choose our unscented flushable wipes. Perfect for use before or after a special encounter – and no one will know but you. Free from harsh chemical components like alcohol and chlorine, Swipes Lovin Wipes®: Unscented contain only all-natural ingredients like pure water, aloe and vitamin E.

Maxim Feminine Hygiene-Tampon: Maxim is a Softer, Safer and Natural Alternative to Standard Conventional Feminine Hygiene Products. Maxim products replace harsh chemical ingredients found in your every day products with the beneficial qualities of organic and natural cotton. In doing so, Maxim products address and resolve major health and environmental concerns associated with the use and production of conventional feminine hygiene and cotton products.

Mia Hand Soap by Eco-MeEco-Me products are made in the USA using ingredients you can find right in your kitchen pantry, that are proven natural and safe and use pure plant essential oils for healthy and safe fragrance. Our goal is for our customers to pick up a bottle of Eco-Me (natural cleaning products, green pet products, non-toxic skin care and baby care) and to read the ingredients and say to themselves “I could make this myself!” YES that is the point, it’s so natural you can make it yourself, we’ve even created DIY kits to get you started.  Eco-Me does not use any chemicals or surfactants, no parabens, no SLS/SLES/ALS or any other chemical listed as unsafe or harmful by the EWG.org 

Equal Exchange Organic 55% dark chocolate minis (2): Equal Exchange minis are made with cacao from the farmer co-operatives CONACADO, in the Dominican Republic, and CACVRA, in Peru, and the fairly traded organic sugar comes from co-operatives in Paraguay and Costa Rica. Vegan & gluten-free. 0.16oz per mini. 

Nurturme plump peas & crisp apples dried organic baby food: Unlike other baby foods, our quick-dried fruits and veggies give you the flexibility to make it the way your baby likes it. Simply add breast milk, whole milk, formula or water in any amount and combination — there is no right or wrong. As your baby’s tastes’ mature, try adding to foods like grains, homemade purees, yogurt and even macaroni and cheese to boost their nutritional value.

Country Choice Organic Multigrain Oatmeal in Cranberry Apple flavor-one pouch: All of Country Choice products are certified organic which requires that at least 95% of the ingredients are certified organic. All of the ingredients adhere to strict requirements for organic products.

St. Claire’s Organics Ginger Pastilles: St. Claire’s Organics® makes certified organic candy. We manufacture GREAT tasting healthy candy! Our manufacturing facility is dedicated Allergen-free. This means our candy is Wheat-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Casein-free, Soy-free, Egg-free, Peanut-free, Tree nut-free, Corn-free, and Fish and Shellfish-free.

Peter Rabbit Organics-Organic Banana and Apple 100% pure fruit snack:  We’ve simply blended the best organic bananas and apples to give you a delicious, grab-and-go snack option. If apples and bananas are your top fruits then this is for you. Just full of simple, fruity goodness ready to be enjoyed. We never dilute our organic blends with water or add any artificial ingredients, colours or preservatives. Just 100% fruit for all to enjoy!

Awesome Foods-Vegetable Tempuraw: At last, you can get all natural, raw, gluten free, right-carb meals & snack foods without any high sugar & high starch ingredients, artificial sweeteners, flavorings or sugar alcohols. Enjoy the delicious taste of real, natural, whole foods. Your body and soul will recognize the needed nutritional benefits of AWESOME FOODS!

Kallari 85% Cacao Bar: The Kallari Association is a self-governed coalition of Amazon artists and organic cocoa producers. Our cooperative began in 1997 with less than fifty families and has now grown to over 850 families. Kallari has created sustainable income so Kichwa people can fulfill our basic family needs without logging our rainforests or selling our land. Our export of handcrafts has inspired the Kichwa youth to learn and practice traditional harvesting, dying, weaving and carving techniques. Just ten years ago, middlemen kept profits for themselves and set low prices for cocoa beans. Today Kallari communities sell as a single unit, our leaders travel to Europe and North America to negotiate prices for our harvest. We have recently taken empowerment a step further: Kallari produces and sells gourmet organic fairly traded dark chocolate bars.

Conscious Box // Herbivore Triathlete

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Dark Chocolate Mint Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow

This is the stuff dreams are made of.

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I’m pretty sure that almost everyone has eaten Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow at some point in their lives. It’s a popular treat, especially around the holidays. The traditional recipe is right on the back of a Chex cereal box. I’ve seen countless variations on Pinterest.

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Although I am a huge fan of the original version, I wanted to change things up a bit. I was inspired by Sally’s Peppermint version.

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I also wanted to omit the peanut butter since I planned on using candy canes and don’t really think mint and peanut butter go together.

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When I went to the store to buy the ingredients I could not find peppermint candy canes anywhere! I went to FOUR different stores and every single store only had fruity flavored candy canes. Not at all what I wanted!

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However, at the last store I went to I found Hershey’s Chocolate Mint Candy Canes, perfect!

Dark Chocolate Mint Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow

Ingredients:

  • Hershey’s Chocolate Mint Candy Canes, crushed (I used 5 candy canes)
  • 12 oz. Hershey’s Semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 5 cups Chex cereal (I used rice)

Method:

Pour 5 cups of Chex rice cereal into a large bowl. Crush candy canes; I put them in a bag and used my kitchen mallet to crush them. Melt chocolate chips in microwave. Add melted chocolate chips to bowl with cereal and mix until all pieces are well-coated. Next, fold in crushed candy canes.

In a large zip-top bag pour in 1 cup powdered sugar. Add cereal/chocolate/candy cane mix to the bag. Make sure bag is sealed tightly and shake, shake, shake!

Muddy Buddies DiptychEnjoy!

Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I’ve been baking a lot lately, using my favorite fall ingredients; pumpkins and cranberries. So far I’ve made orange-cranberry-walnut muffins from The PPK and my bread last weekend. I had just over a cup of fresh cranberries left in the fridge and knew I wanted to make cookies, so I went on a search for a recipe. I found a recipe over on Coconut and Lime that looked promising. The original recipe was not veg*an or gluten-free, but I’ve learned to trust my “kitchen intuition” and knew that I could easily vegan-ize the recipe. The combination of tart cranberries and sweet chocolate chips is absolutely wonderful!

Adapted from Coconut & Lime

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
3/4 cup Sucanat
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (use gluten-free for that option)
1/4 cup semisweet mini chips (I use Enjoy Life Mini-chips, these are gluten & dairy free)
4 tablespoons Earth Balance, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 flax egg (1 tbsp. ground flax + 3 tbsps. warm water, mixed)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together the Earth Balance, vanilla and Sucanat, using a hand mixer. Add the flax egg, beat until fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, and oats. Mix until well combined. Fold in cranberries and chips. Drop by tablespoon onto cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes until they  the bottoms are just brown. Carefully, remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

What’s your favorite kind of cookie?